Some guy saw my ad on Craigslist and says he wants to rent a vacant room I have down on lower Sukhumvit.He says he is coming on September 20 and will stay for two months.. I told him how much money I wanted for such a short term contract.  He quickly agreed and asked for my address to send money in advance.  I asked him many times for his flight number and telephone number which he hasn't sent.... Today he called me (supposedly from England) and my phone registered 999999... He told me that the money is on it's way.  When I got home, I received the following email:The payment for the rent is on the way and you can

track it on www.ups.com.

The Tracking Number : 1Z4220EY0494890207

The problem is the payment was sent from our branch in

USA,so i have to wait till you get the payment cos my

BTA is also in it.The payment sent to you is

4500pounds..So you will remove your money and i can

even pay you additional 100pounds for your help.

So i will get back to you later concerning the

remaining amount with you once you have it cashed..

I was told to tell you these :

STEPS TO TAKE:

-   UPON RECEIPT OF THE TRAVELER'S CHEQUE, YOU ARE TO

HAVE IT SIGNED ABOVE WHERE INDICATED (sign here

immediately upon recipt of this traveler's check) AND

COUNTERSIGN BELOW IN PRESENCE OF THE CASHIER

-   YOU ARE TO WRITE YOUR NAME AND DATE WHERE

REQUIRED.

-   AFTER THIS HAS BEEN DONE, YOU CAN PROCEED TO ANY

OF THE BELOW PLACES TO HAVE THE CHECK CASHED:

- Bank

- Pawn shop

- Western union outlet

- Casino

- Check cashing place/store

Thanks for the help and God bless you..I am very

grateful.

Regards

HenryOkay... this is really strange because I checked the tracking number and it matched a package sent from Franklin Park, Illinois and only arrived in Germany about an hour ago... it is still in transit to Bangkok...  Does this guy really trust me with his money?  What is in the package?  To make this scenario more interesting... He had a distinct African accent with no British lilt to it at all. And when he called me at 3:30 pm he said it was 10:30 am where he was... so that wasn't London for sure....  Stay tuned to find out what's in the package.  

Probably the ears of the illustrious Idi Amin Dada...worth a fortune!

Be careful.......it cud be a bomb! He sounds like a freak of nature, and I don't think I would want to rent anything to him...........good luck?

Dont worry too much , in the package there's probably a **** load of ecstacy tablets .

Seriously though , you should have him pay on your terms only . For you to feel a bit suspicious then I'd say trust your instincts and maybe cancel the transaction .

Don,

Sounds like a scam to me, it all just sounds a bit iffy. Be on your guard!

I doubt that there is anything wrong with the package, but use common sense when it arrives. As far as the rent is concerned, keep the place open to other tenants until you receive the total deposit from Mr. Strange.

If he fails to pay the rest of the money, just return to him what he paid minus your own expenses + a plate of som tam, gai yang and sticky rice (for your efforts).

The spooky thing, Japamerican, is that he is sending way too much money. And I think it is coming in the form of unsigned travelers checks. Checks that need to be double signed at the time of purchase and signed a third time when cashing....

We'll see what happens.... I'm not going to get ripped off, but I don't wanna get hurt either... If it's a scam, which it likely is, I'd like to see this guy severely punished by the authorities.

YES, IT IS A SSCCAAMM!!!! If you read ANY news on the net, you will see that 95 plus percent of these "check for too much money" scams come out of Africa, so they try to hide the fact they are from there because people are catching on. The trick is, you cash the check and it clears your bank, you think, but up to ONE FULL MONTH later, the bank gives you a call and says they want the money back. International checks can take very long to clear. By then you have wired or given the scammer "his share" and you are left with the responsibility with your bank. Later he will tell you: "Oh, I can't make it to BKK now, could you wire or Western Union me the excess" It's been tried on me many times and never succeeded. I like to play with them when I am not too busy and pretend to fall for their scam till I get tired of them and tell them I am keeping all of their money. It's funny how upset they act and tell me they will send the authorities after me.

For a good laugh, look here: http://www.bustedupcowgirl.com/ this person has a lot of free time and has played games with these scammers MANY times AND has included all emails between her and scammers.

This is sounding fishy. Very fishy! Be careful. Ok, it is condo, so it would be weird way to launder money, actually wouldnt be laundering. But something is going on. But keep posted, this sounds interesting deal. If it was a "package" you might be innocent middle man, gopher here...

Oh ok, GermanUsa seems to know the deal.

I've sold some items on Craigs List and Island Previews here in Honolulu and every time I always get these wierd request to purchase the items with an additional comment that they will pay "more for your trouble".

All these things are are some type of scam (usually generating out of Nigeria or from thier family members based somewhere in the U.S.). Forget about this guy. If someone wants to rent your place and is "ligit" he will be ready to go and have cash in hand, and even then, be cautious as to who you rent to and always check "verifiable" references. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.

It certainly smells of something........

As you say Travellers Cheques need to be signed when purchased and signed again when being cashed. I also dont quite understand why he would send cheques in pound sterling from USA ........ not that there is actually anything wrong with doing that, but id say its unusual.

My guess is the travellers cheques are forged but I cant wait for the next installment on this story :-)

Its a scam as GermanUsa sayes your be asked to send him balance of the money a day or 2 after you cash the cheque then u find out that cheque is no good. Not quite sure how rthat works but their are pleanty of these scams about. I also have fun with these guys sometimes - its a good way to pass a boring afternoon in the office.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck - its a duck

The first thing I will do is contact the issuing company of the travelers checks to see the issuing record. If they are not already signed at least twice by the purchaser and made out to my name than they can't possible be cashed legally by me.

I already can see that it is a SCAM, but the checks are in the mail.

Thats a strange one Don,but intriguing ain't it?

Must be some thing behind the reason for sending.Hope theres no surprises in the package.

.............Hmmm interesting, cant wait til the conclusion

Just remember the old saying: If it appears to good to be true, then it probably is. This one sounds like it is.

suspicious smell...be careful!!

Scam for sure

Condoman

yup scam,, Its from Nigeria.

The cashiers check is forged. They will ask you to wire them back the remanider. They will clear out your bank, when they have your bank info.

If you have the time play scammer the scammer. loads of fun and those Nigerians get a little huffy.

They would always try the buy a lot of stuff on the stolen credit card scam on me. They call as a customer, get a quote , and buy on the spot with a credit card. Then dispatch FED Ex or UPS to pick it up. I would never run the card, tell them its ready to be picked up. I would fill a few boxes with trash, sometimes even baby diapers.

Fed Ex makes a pick up and off my trash goes.. ( beats taking the trash out)

When they get the product those Hot headed little Nigerians would be a calling . I wish i could have recorded the call for future laughs. They were calling me names, "I would tell them You rub it I like it" They threaten me with bodily harm many times . I would tell them call in a few days when i have some more trash. A few times I thought this one guy would show up. I was telling him you will only need a oneway ticket.

So have fun with this, don't get hurt and tease the Africans

yeah see what you can do to **** with this turd.

this has the potential to be hilarious if you play it right.

wait to know what's in that package or he sent money with his furnitures ? :-P

if it's pills, then could you send me some I'll pay you an additional 100$ for getting you through this trouble!

See my next entry... Scam part 2