Scammers online :/

[Svensational]

I posted an ad on craigslist and kijiji about needing a roommate or roommates for the house I'm currently in for October 1st.

Thing is..

It's been like 4 hours since I posted the ad and already 4 ppl have emailed me about it. Thing is.. I checked them out and did some research on the email addys they were using--all damn scammers.

Is this really 'normal' for these sites? Never had experience with them before.

Anyone have problems with them?

[Bertuzzied]

Use a better site like rentfaster.ca. Sure you have to pay for it but the cost is pretty low. I had 28 phone calls and emails in the first 30 minutes the last time i posted my condo for rent.

[Svensational]

Aye, I'll have to speak to my landlord about that option Bertuzzied.. never even looked at that site before. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

How would you scam someone who was just looking for a roommate?

[Svensational]

Sidney, they play the game like they are interested--only to then come up with some kinda nonsense about needing money to get over to the country. This one idiot claimed he was from Sweden, I checked his email and he's well known for getting ppl to wire him money.

Now.. I know it's gotta take a real idiot to actually send money to him. I'm not one of them. Just discouraged to see them jump on a new ad so quickly.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

How would you scam someone who was just looking for a roommate?

Probably the typical cheque/deposit scam. "Here's three times the money you asked for, please wire me the remainder" sent from a hacked paypal account or counterfit cashier's cheque.

[Table 5]

Only semi-related, but I read a good little piece about online scams in the Economist a few days ago. Talks about how scammers are dumbing down their scams to weed out the smart people and only attract real morons, so they don't waste their time.

http://www.economist.com/node/21557726

Great reason to start writing back to these people and tying up their efforts.

[Regulator75]

Scammers are online?

Thanks for heads up.

[worth]

I was trying to sell my car on Kijiji and got about 7 people offering me $700 on top of my asking price for the vehicle. How stupid do you have to be to not see there is a scam in there somewhere.

Anything that you put on Kijiji you will get far more scam emails/texts then actual interest. Just part of the game i guess.