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Updated over 10 years ago, 08/12/2014
Please be warned before you rent-my experience
I had put an ad to rent a basement apartment in my 2 family rental and had a lot of response . One email I received was supposedly from one Vincent Prasad, an Indian from Hyderabad , working in Canada now. He was moving to Jersey City, he said and needed an apartment urgently . He said his company would send me whatever my rent, and security deposit was , and that he was not choosy about the apartment.He wanted my name and address to send the checks . I asked him to call me to discuss. When he called, I could tell it was a call from a computer. And I could barely understand his accent( I am an Indian American myself)He was clearly a black person, not Indian. When I asked what his place of origin was, he told me all sorts of stories about being born in India, growing up in England(this was no British accent -I can tell you that!!) and working in Canada. He needed to secure the apartment and wanted to send me checks right away. I smelt a rat right there. Then I asked him to first send me an employment letter from his company which he said they would not do. He didn't even give me the address of his company but said he would send me copies of his Indian passport for ID. I politely told him I would not rent without the employment letter and hung up . I sat wondering what he could possibly cheat me with, if HE was paying ME .Then my son showed me this article
http://insiderealestate.heraldtribune.com/2013/11/04/nigerian-rental-deposit-scam-hits-sarasota/