Photo credit: jepoirrier
Read “Part I: How I (Almost) Got Scammed on Craigslist.“
The “ideal” apartment I found on Craigslist slowly began to unravel itself into an obvious scam in a series of e-mail exchanges. The supposed owner, Lavonda Robbins, of a property in Honolulu became increasingly pushy and tried to use religion to try to scam me into sending her money in Maryland.
As the property slowly revealed itself to be a scam, my values of honesty in a rental professional solidified.
Tugging religious strings.
Knowing that keys were going to be sent to me was extremely suspicious. I told her that I wouldn’t send any money or anything until I was able to step inside the apartment.
She quickly e-mailed back trying to lure me back by using trust and religious reasons. She said, “ Please I’m doing this transaction based on Trust & Honesty and again I want you to stick to your words, I’m putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let me down in this property of mine. I’m doing this because of God & as a good Christian.”
At this point, she seemed desperate. I didn’t find it professional for someone to use religion to beg someone into their property.
At the end of the e-mail, she swore to send pictures of the property for me to reconsider. My guard was up high, but I saw no harm in an e-mail with pictures. So, we had one more exchange.
The pictures didn’t match.
Lavonda Robbins sent another e-mail that contained pictures of the apartment I had my eye on. It was the last chance I was giving the apartment I was clearly having bad vibes on.
The pictures she sent were photos of a nice, clean apartment with a black granite kitchen. Once I saw this, I immediately knew something was wrong. Scammer didn’t know that I bookmarked the original Craigslist post. The kitchen countertops of the Craigslist listing I saw were white.
My communications with this scam artist immediately stopped. I later discovered that the e-mail address Lavonda Robbins sent messages from was deleted a few weeks after, confirming the false ad.
Since this experience, I’ve vowed to never work with a rental professional I didn’t trust ever again.
The lesson.
Rental professionals need to be honest and trustworthy. Period.
When it comes to rental professionals, trust isn’t a big deal; it’s a huge deal. Trust and honesty in a rental professional is invaluable. According to a RentJuice study of “What Renters Want,” 40 percent of renters said that honesty is the most valued quality in a rental professional. You need to trust your rental professional because he or she will not only manage your home, but also your money. Once renters lose trust, you can almost guarantee that you will lose their business as well as their network of friends and family.
