making the rounds

Standing up to nasty housing scammers – one solid sassy email at a time.

THE SCAM:

The apartment is available and it’s located at 733 15th Street, Washington, DC 20005, with one bedroom, one living room, one bathroom and one kitchen, square feet 1208. I really want to find a good and responsible tenant for it and i was hoping if you can send me some personal and financial informations about yourself. The monthly rent of $1800 will include all utilities such as water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking etc. The only problem is that i had to move with my job to United Kingdom, London where i am now and i left the keys and contract already signed by me at a company
called Rent.com and they will handle the payment and delivery for us. If you want to know more
about how this deal can work please get back to me ASAP and i will send you the details step by step. Thank you and hope to hear back from you.
- Stacey

THE SASS:

Hi Stacey,

Sounds great!

Just one thing – Stop trying to steal from people! The people most likely to fall for this are old ladies and immigrants. In short, the most vulnerable people in our society. You may not think this possible, but there are really down and out (poor) people in America. Some of them are very good people, and their lives would be ruined by those like you who want to steal their savings. You could profit off them, but you could be destroying the life of a great person who doesn’t have much in this world.

So you really shouldn’t do that!

Good luck with obtaining lawful employment.

Regards,

Someone who prefers not being scammed.

** Much admiration for the great office mate who wrote this in hopes of finding a nice place to leave that’s not under her desk.