# Beware possible rental scam?



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

As most people know I have been helping elrasho try and find an apartment, and yesterday I received an email from him asking me advice about an apartment he had found on Craiglist. Residents of Cairo have a fair idea of rents and what you will get for your money.

The apartment was without doubt a show piece and the photographs of the interior professionally taken, furnishing all high end speck and being located in one of the best streets in Zamalek all for the great price of 2000L.E per month The person who placed the add wanted 1500 deposit paid now to hold the apartment plus they were willing to go to the airport meet his flight and show him where the flat is, they emphasised that he should pay the deposit now..... Elrasho was not happy in sending a deposit for an apartment he hadn't seen and asked what I thought.
Firstly there was no way this apartment would be rented out for 2000LE.. so I suggested he replied telling them that he has someone in Cairo that would like to come and see the apartment for him but I did say I thought there would be no reply as I am sure it is a scam. I think you have guessed he has heard nothing.
I have no proof there is a scam going on but please if you are renting somewhere do not pay any deposit before seeing the apartment.

Maiden


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## Sam (Aug 27, 2009)

MaidenScotland said:


> As most people know I have been helping elrasho try and find an apartment, and yesterday I received an email from him asking me advice about an apartment he had found on Craiglist. Residents of Cairo have a fair idea of rents and what you will get for your money.
> 
> The apartment was without doubt a show piece and the photographs of the interior professionally taken, furnishing all high end speck and being located in one of the best streets in Zamalek all for the great price of 2000L.E per month The person who placed the add wanted 1500 deposit paid now to hold the apartment plus they were willing to go to the airport meet his flight and show him where the flat is, they emphasised that he should pay the deposit now..... Elrasho was not happy in sending a deposit for an apartment he hadn't seen and asked what I thought.
> Firstly there was no way this apartment would be rented out for 2000LE.. so I suggested he replied telling them that he has someone in Cairo that would like to come and see the apartment for him but I did say I thought there would be no reply as I am sure it is a scam. I think you have guessed he has heard nothing.
> ...



Does sound rather scam-like to me. People should always be careful who they transfer money to - not just when it comes to apartments but anything. Individuals and personal accounts are not good, and if transferring to a company then ask about signing a "Money Transfer Agreement" with them. A good one of these will state the purpose of the transfer and that the money shall be used for none other than this purpose and if it was used for anything else this would be a breach of trust, which is a heavily penalised criminal offence. Anybody who was not dealing in a good way would fear signing such a thing and probably refuse. These agreements tend to be used for larger amounts, but the mere mention of it will usually show if the other party is genuine.


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## elrasho (May 16, 2010)

I still haven't heard from that person, no doubt hes trying to pull the scam with someone else  Its simple really, would you really hand over money for something you haven't seen in person? Especially a flat. I could tell by the pictures that this was a scam, aswell as the way the email was written (no punctuation marks, just one long paragraph lol)

Im back on the hunt for a flat/room in Zamalek, Mohandeseen or Agouza


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## txlstewart (Jun 20, 2010)

elrasho said:


> I still haven't heard from that person, no doubt hes trying to pull the scam with someone else  Its simple really, would you really hand over money for something you haven't seen in person? Especially a flat. I could tell by the pictures that this was a scam, aswell as the way the email was written (no punctuation marks, just one long paragraph lol)
> 
> Im back on the hunt for a flat/room in Zamalek, Mohandeseen or Agouza


I'm sorry as I was the person who led you to it. Please forgive me! Good luck with your search.


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## elrasho (May 16, 2010)

txlstewart said:


> I'm sorry as I was the person who led you to it. Please forgive me! Good luck with your search.


Please say your joking


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## MensEtManus (Jul 30, 2009)

She is a girl.... they are a sensitive kind, they use words such as "sorry", "did not mean to" , "forgive me" etc. 

Seriously thou, scamming has taken a whole new course in Egypt. It first started out with the pyramid scheme, rabbit farms, and now it has moved onto credit card phone calls, rental ambiguity, fake employment agencies, etc.


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## starchief (Dec 4, 2009)

Craigslist is full of this. We've had this ourselves. Often, the person owns the flat but is working as an AIDS missionary in the Ivory Coast (or some such rubbish).

Also, beware of those asking what you're after, plus name, address, occupation, DoB etc etc. It's an identity theft attempt.

Most of them are based in South Africa, Nigeria or Ivory Coast.

You could bait them however. There's some great stories on here:
Welcome to 419Eater

I liked the "we'll pay for the postage in advance, then the laptops on arrival". Pay the postage huh? Okay. Broken washing machine filled with building materials. The scammers ended up paying $50,000!

Or there's the suitcase full of money in the sea. Oops sorry. It drifted over to the coast, so I actually managed to pick it up myself. Hope it didn't cost that much to fly to another country, hire a boat, buy a GPS, a satellite phone and a scuba diver!


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Yes I think we have all had those scam emails in various forms.
What I do not understand is why Craiglist etc do not block countries that are known for this type of posting. 
My friend is on a dating site and she asked me to look at her profile but I couldn't as it said that the country I was in was not supported, even trying to log in with her log in name and password wouldn't let me gain access.

This site is constantly monitored to try and prevent scams etc and it is one of the reasons we ask you not to put your personal contact details on the site.

Maiden


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## starchief (Dec 4, 2009)

It's quite easy to hide your IP. Use HotSpot Shield for instance and you're in the US.


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## elrasho (May 16, 2010)

starchief said:


> It's quite easy to hide your IP. Use HotSpot Shield for instance and you're in the US.


These websites should not allow you to use proxys


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## layla13 (Apr 29, 2010)

i had the same problem when I lived in cairo except the guy wanted 200$ just to show me the apt. i was like are you kidding me and laughed. I told him it was a scam and no thanks. so i then saw the pics of the apt on a real estate site and contacted the owner of the real estate and told him about it. he was very interested. so maybe this is this guys new scam. ive had a few apts and they never ask for any money til you sign the contract. i dont care what they promise. ~layla









MaidenScotland said:


> As most people know I have been helping elrasho try and find an apartment, and yesterday I received an email from him asking me advice about an apartment he had found on Craiglist. Residents of Cairo have a fair idea of rents and what you will get for your money.
> 
> The apartment was without doubt a show piece and the photographs of the interior professionally taken, furnishing all high end speck and being located in one of the best streets in Zamalek all for the great price of 2000L.E per month The person who placed the add wanted 1500 deposit paid now to hold the apartment plus they were willing to go to the airport meet his flight and show him where the flat is, they emphasised that he should pay the deposit now..... Elrasho was not happy in sending a deposit for an apartment he hadn't seen and asked what I thought.
> Firstly there was no way this apartment would be rented out for 2000LE.. so I suggested he replied telling them that he has someone in Cairo that would like to come and see the apartment for him but I did say I thought there would be no reply as I am sure it is a scam. I think you have guessed he has heard nothing.
> ...


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