BEWARE of scammer Anita Staples

A warning about a scammer using the alias Anita Staples appeared on Craigslist Paris recently.  The same scam has been running on Gumtree in Cape Town. Here’s the pitch:

Hello 

Thanks for your email response. The apartment is still available for rent for €450.I inherited the apartment from my late Husband.I lived in the apartment Only Because am Single,am a Teacher in (Paris) so they transfer me to West Africa Teach a University.i Teach French,Spanish,i will there for about 3 or 4Years .i just need someone with an open heart,love and clean to occupy the apartment and put all my worries off concerning the maintenance of the apartment for, since i am not residing there for now.I left behind some Facilities and electronics which you have to pay for the subscription, and a DVD player, air conditioning, alarm system. The kitchen is fully equipped with all necessary cooking utensils, a refrigerator-freezer, four-hob and oven, microwave,dishwasher and washing machine, My 

Computer Connected with Internet Access Also the keys to the condo are right here with me, and the lease document. Which i can send to you after all necessary agreement has be accepted. Also i will like you to know that the rent charges is not really the issue , but your absolute maintenance of my apartment , because that is the only valuable property my late Husband left behind, and it also took him so much time and money to put all those facilities in place. 

1 BEDROOM apartment : 

Private Location 

Newer Carpet 

Marble Floors in Kitchen and Bath 

New Paint 

Complex Amenities Include 

Laundry 

Laundry room 

Parking 

Assigned 

Terms: 

Lease Terms: month to month 

Ready for move-in now! 

Property Information Type: Apartments for Bedroom 

1 Bedrooms 6th floor, very sunny and quiet, with wooden floor. Large living room (leather sofa, glass table + 4 chairs and plasma TV). One medium-sized rooms with double bed. There is a small one room that is connected to the kitchen and it has an individual bed (good for guests, however it does not have enough privacy for permanent use). Kitchen of origin (not reformed), but fully equipped and with vitro ceramic. Large bathroom of origin (not reformed) with washing machine. The living room has a small balcony facing an indoor patio. Lease Availability: 

Immediate Lease Terms: How Long 

Application Fee: 

Deposit: €450 

Rent: €450 per month 

Policies Pets: 

Call for details Smoking: 

Exterior Outdoor: Parking: 

-1 Dedicated Parking Spaces Community: 

Handicap Accessible 

Access Gate 

So if you are interested in the apartment you get back to me by 

filling the Rent Application Form below okay, 

RENT APPLICATION FORM 

1)Your Full Name: 

2)Your Full Address & Phone Number: 

3)How old are you?: 

4)Are you married?: 

5)How many people will be living in the house?: 

6)Do you have a pet?: 

7)Do you have a car?: 

8)Occupation?: 

9)How many months contract?: 

10)your picture and your wife picture? 

LOCATION & AREA 

This apartment is perfectly located for both shopping and cultural activities: the chic and trendy Bon Marche department store is just a few steps away, as well as the Saint Germain des Prs church and the trendiest shops in Paris… 

Have a coffee on the terrace of the Caf de Flore, lunch at Brasserie Lipp, and then why not go and relax in the famous Jardins du Luxembourg (park in the heart of Saint Germain des Pres) that are only 50m away(you can even book a tennis court!) Discover the city on foot,  or why not rent a velib’? (Paris bike rentals) 

Address: 21 rue de Fleurus, Paris 75006, France 

Nearest Metro / Subway: Saint Placide – 50 Meters 

Nearest Airport: Orly – 20 Kilometers 

Accommodation located in city, leisure area, old town, near 

restaurants & bars, near cultural interest, near historical interest, near tennis courts,jardins du luxembourg, saint sulpice, saint germain des prs, near shopping area ! 

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and 

contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you, please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words, you know that, we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand, so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this. 

Best Regards. 

Yours Faithfully 

Mrs Anita Staples 

+(234)-808-898-9656 & #+0112348088989656…

Calgary police warn of rental scam

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CBC News (Canada) Monday, January 19, 2009  

Calgary police are reminding anyone searching the internet for an apartment to watch out for online scams.

In most cases, a person posing as a landlord says he or she is out of the country and requires a deposit on the rental. Once the money is paid, usually through a money transfer, the new tenant discovers there isn’t actually a rental.

The scam isn’t a new one, but police said it’s recently become more prolific and harder to spot because fraudsters are cutting and pasting text from real ads and using real photos. The only thing that is different is the contact information.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Cops: Longwood woman scammed would-be renters

by Gary Taylor, Orlando Sentinel (U.S.), January 17, 2009

A Longwood woman has been doing a booming business renting out a DeBary house, but there was only one problem, Volusia County sheriff’s investigators said: She didn’t own it.

Libra Latham, 37, faces four counts of burglary, three counts of scheme to defraud and two counts of grand theft. She is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach with bail set at $60,000.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

WARNING: new scammer Camille Hegoburu

A well-known scammer and identity thief is now making the rounds under a new alias, Camille Hegoburu, using the following IP addresses: 41.219.234.176, 41.219.230.100, 41.219.192.236, 41.219.203.17 and 41.219.236.208  – all based in Lagos, Nigeria. Have a look at the correspondance sent in by a Scamwatch reader. Don’t be a victim!

This was the first reply mail:

From: camille Hegoburu <camillehegoburu@yahoo.com>

Date: 13 January 2009 0.58

Subject: About the colocation in Paris

Hello ,

Am Camille Hegoburu,22 years old.my parent lives in Paris ,i stays in London before but since the death of my Dad i have to relocate down to Paris in other to be take care of my Mum and after she left for London,i have been taking care of the flat.

I thanks so much for the mail and interest in my flat and ,i have been pretty busy in UK for my internship, i but i will be back in couple of weeks,cos this is my last session at the school.

However, the flat is located at (11, Rue de Marignan -75008 Paris)the flat will be available from January, but i can reserve the room for you till when you are ready to move in.the flat has two bedrooms available and each room has a very bid bed that can sleep two people with a television connected to cable,a small refrigerator apart from a big freezer in the kitchen a private bathroom with toilet drawer.

However the apartment itself has the following foryour benefit:a big living room fully furnished with a television connected to cable,internet facility available ,in all the two rooms if you have a laptop you can bring along and connect as well, the transport facilities are quite ok the area as there is a tube station close to the flat.

Am sending to you some pictures hope you will love it?and i will send to you a rental agreement form to see what next to do,you may have to pay for a security deposit of and for one month rent in advance to show some seriousness that you really want this flat, and if you need a room you are welcome, so that i can reserve either the flat or the room for you for the period you want cos a lot of people have wasted my time on this issue and i really want to deal with people who are serious and genuinely interested in the room, i hope you understand me?thanks once again for the interest in my room while waiting to read from you.

Regards,

 

Camille

————————————————–

My first reply:

Hello Camille,

thank you for the answer!

I’m interested in one of the two rooms…Charges (internet, tv,

electricity, heat etc..) are included in the 500 €/month?

I’ll get in Paris on the afternoon of february the 1st, you’ll be there?

I’m waiting for the photos!

Thanks again,

[name withheld]

———————————————————

Her second reply:

Hello ,                                                                 

                                                                         

Thanks for the reply and the interest in my room, am attaching to this  mail some of the flat picture i hope you will like it? as i stated in my previous mail am not in Paris for now, but if you want to proceed then  we can .                                                                   

                  

The monthly rent of 500€ include all the bills and charges for a month ,and this fee is for a room , with the sum of 650€ for the security refundable deposit.                                                                 

The flat is located in  11, Rue de Marignan – 75008 Paris.          The nearest metro station is Alma-Marceau Metro station,  and its About 5mins walk from the flat.                                               

                                                                         

I have seen people who told me that they will pay  us upon seeing  the  flat, promising me that money is not the problem or that their company is

paying or they are financially buoyant to pay the rent and then i took  permission to be absent from my school, when we meet and after seeing my apartment,they definitely fall in love with it but they don’t have money to pay, i dont know how people are so unserious and take pleasure in wasting other peoples time,they will start pleading with me and telling me all  their problems as regards finances and how they cannot pay until a certain period of time which of course will make me compassionate and i would be forced to help a fellow human being of accommodation at my own detriment.

                                                                         

I hope you understand the way i feel about this issues, people have   deceived me into giving them rooms free and i will not fall for it   again.If you are serious in renting the room, you will have to pay in  advance to my mother in London  ,Before making  the payment their some procedure we have to undergo If truly you are ready to rent the room,I will have to tell our family lawyer to prepare a Tenant Agreement Form and a receipt for the deposit which i will fill and sign   and our family lawyer will

witness ,I will scan it and send to you for to sign and send back to me.I will need the following information.         

1) The photocopy of your ID Card                                         

2) your arriver date and departure date                                 

3) your home address.The purpose of this address ,is for me to send the tenant agreement form back to you,so that you can come with your own copy of it.                                                                

4) your phone number

                                                                         

Best regards, 

Camille

——————————————————

After I asked for some other details and this is her last reply:

Hello  [name withheld],

 

Thanks for your much interest in my room and the quick respond to my mails , i hope we would eventually becomes my tenant,  i will be glad to have a perfect person like you as my next tenant ,for you sound nice and interesting to have as tenant .

 

Am attaching to this mail a copy of the rental agreement form in which  i will advise you to read carefully cos this will constitute to the basic terms and conditions of our contract , and if you are okay with it then you  can now proceed with signing it, and resend it back to me via e-mail  and proceed with the payment to my mother   in London via either Money gram transfer agent or  western union money transfer agent, as have i said in my previous mail,and after the payment have been confirm i will now fax or post to you a receipt of payment and a signed rental agreement form which you will bring along when coming to the flat on February 1st 2009. i hope you understand?and immediately the payment as been confirmed i will begin to get ready to come and fix you in on you arrival date. get back to me  if you have any question.

below is the address that you will send the money to :

 

Mrs Sarah Hegoburu,

23, Wyndham St,

London,

W1H 1ED.

 

When will you be able to do the transfer so that i can plan my schedule ahead and to send to you all other necessary documents  ,so as to avoid delay on my own part. i will be waiting to receive the information that you receive from the after transferring the money,informations  like the senders name total amounts send, the transfer code, for me to be able to forward the details to my mother to confirm the payment before my leaving for Paris.Will you like me to send the documents  via courier service  or fax ?can i use the previous  address ?,  if you prefer post, and   i will need your fax number if you want fax.

Regards,

Camille

.

——————————-

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Update:

Just some hours ago, he sent me the bank details of his hypothetical lawyer, because of my refuse to send money to London via money transfer:

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Name-Jayne Bridgwood

Sort code-20 77 62

Account number – 50846236

IBAN number- GB49 BARC 2077 6250 8462 36

SWIFTBIC NUMBER – BARCGB22

Bank Name-barclays bank stratford road shirley solihull westmidlands

Slick Web scammer leaves Bend man out $3,600

By Zack Hall / The Bulletin (Bend, OR), January 08, 2009 

Ed Harman is a trusting person by nature.

So when a person claiming through e-mail to be a doctor in England said he was moving to the United States and wanted to rent Harman’s southeast Bend townhome that Harman had placed on Craigslist, the 65-year-old longtime Bend resident believed him.

It was a mistake that cost Harman nearly $4,000.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Fake landlord takes cash from international students

Convict David Messina sublets condos while not paying rent to owners

 

By Kathy Tomlinson, CBC News (Canada),  January 6, 2009  

A B.C. condo owner is fighting to get her downtown Vancouver property out of the hands of a convicted criminal who posed as a tenant and leased her suite, then turned around and rented it out to several students from Japan and Korea — while not paying rent to her.

“He rents it to like five people at a time,” owner Elisabeth Fox said. “He puts two people in the den, two people in the bedroom and one person in the living room. And he’s not living there.”

To read the rest of the story, click here.