More Investigative Reporting

Wow- I can't believe someone did this.

So I'm looking for a rental house, because I think I mentioned the current National Economy Emergency is all our fault and we're moving in a few weeks.

I found a house listing on Craigslist and it looked something like this

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Beautiful, professionally landscaped home with 5 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms, located in a safe neighborhood. Owner's attention to detail and lots of extras. $1500/month.
3102 43rd Ave NE in Tacoma.

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Wow- great looking house, and although I tend to hate new construction, the professional landscaping seemed to make a big difference, plus the kitchen looked awesome, and 5 bedrooms for $1500 is really awesome.

So I emailed him:

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"Hello, I'm interested in the house on 43rd and would like to come look at it on Tuesday. We closed our business in December and have a bankruptcy and a foreclosure, but we have excellent references and stable income. I don't want to waste anyone's time looking at it if we're not eligible. Have a great day and I hope you find the perfect renters."

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He writes back:

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Hello,

Thanks for your email and interest in renting my house..I am Chris Coleman,the owner of the house you are making enquiry of...Actually I resided in the house with my family, my wife and my only daugther before and presently we have moved out due to my transfer from my work now in Warsaw,Poland. Presently my house is still available for rent for $1500 USD (rent already includes utilities).Moreso Now, i'm currently in Lagos,Nigeria for an international christian follower's crusade.

Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind, honest and trustworthy man and also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give to you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own, It is not the money that is the main problem but i want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for a check up.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.This is the address of the House (3102 43rd Ave NE
NE Tacoma, WA 98422)..

It has a dramatic entry foyer with ceramic floor. Extremely spacious rooms throughout with lots of big windows...nice and light! New neutral paint and some newer carpet..Very quiet, low traffic area. New fridge (7/07)...I believe its absolutely a perfect home for you and your family.Utilities include Water,Trash,Sewer,Gas,Power.

SO IF YOU ARE REALY INTRESTED I WILL WANT YOU TO FILL THE
RENT APPLICATION FORM BELOW

RENT APPLICATION FORM.

FIRST NAME:__________?
MIDDLE NAME:__________?
LAST NAME:__________?
PROFESSION:__________?
PHONE:
(CELL)PHONE__________?
(WORK)PHONE__________?
(HOME)PHONE__________?
KIDS _____ (YES/NO), HOW MANY ________
PRESENT ADDRESS: _____________________
CITY: _______________
STATE:______________
ZIP CODE: ____________
HOW LONG? ___________IF RENTING
WHY ARE YOU LEAVING__________?
IF THIS HOUSE IS BEING GIVEN TO YOU,
HOW LONG DO YOU INTEND STAYING? ____________?
WHEN DO YOU INTEND MOVING IN? ______________?
IF YOU HAVE A PET,
NAME OF PET: _____________?
KIND OF PETS: _____________?
HABITS
DO YOU SMOKE ______________ ?
DO YOU DRINK ______________?
DO YOU WORK LATE NIGHT? ____?

Looking forward to hearing from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file incase 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 keys to you,please we are giving you all this based on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that we have not seen yet and only putting everything into Gods hands,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this...

The house is available for rent at the moment so you are free to move in as soon as you wish to...A Deposit of $1500 (which happens to be the first months rent) is required before moving in...Feel free to call me for more information and arrangements on how to get the keys and other necessary documents delivered to you...my number is (+2348051039696 OR 0112348051039696).The house will be available for rent for a period of 4 years so you have a choice of deciding how long you intend staying there...

God Bless,
Chris Coleman

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What a stupid form, something's up here- OMG is he in Nigeria, so I look up that whole Nigerian scam on Snopes.com and they just try to get you to send money to Nigeria from your bank account. It's a scam, so I reread the email and OMG he really is in Nigeria. SO- an email can't hurt, right. I'm not filling out that stupid "form" What the heck is that? I just write a note...

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Hi Chris, thanks for getting back to me so quickly, what an exciting adventure you must be having!

My husband and I are looking to move in by November 1st. We have beautiful little girls (no boys). We do not drink or smoke. I work from home as a writer and web designer, sometimes late at night. We closed our family business in December and because of this, we filed bankruptcy and our home was foreclosed on. We were renters before that and have very good rental references. We also have good personal and professional references. We have several streams of income, since we also operate a catering / concession from our leftover business. I stay home with my children and we're homeschooling. I can relate to your concern that the property be maintained and I think you are wise for insisting upon it. We are looking to rent for only a period of 2-3 years while we rebuild our credit to buy another house. We have a lazy dog that would have been sent to live on a farm if he had ever soiled my floors or chewed anything. He lays on his pad all day long until he hears his leash or food. We'd be happy to make an extra deposit, since some homeowners are understandably concerned with animals.

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Then I immediately look up the property on the Pierce County Assessors Website. Did you know you can do this? Just punch in the address and it will tell you who owns the house, what the current assessment value is, information about the sewage plan, what watershed it's on, whether the taxes are current, etc. Anyhow- he's not the legal owner of the house, some poor unsuspecting person named Mays Adam (or maybe Adam Mays)
and
it only has 2.5 bathrooms listed.
something strange is going on here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it

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so I looked it up on Google Earth. The landscaping looks nice from above, too.

In the meantime, he returns with this fantastic bit of news, imagine...

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Hello Lisa Russell

Thanks for getting back to me with the Rent Application Form. I just wanted to let you know that we have decided to let you live in our house. As we have found your application very satisfactory and acceptable by my family..So we would want you to go through this email and get back to us on what you feel so we could proceed in renting the house to you.

We would like to send the following documents to you via UPS next day delivery to the address you sent to us and the tracking number will be sent to you so that you can possibly occupy our house, Please once again, we are giving you this based on trust so please do not dissapoint us and i promise you that, you will love the house.We are with the underlisted documents here with us and you will need to make Payment for the first month's Rent ($1500) to enable shippment of the Keys and documents to the address you have provided to us, afterwhich you could move in at your convenience. The rent starts counting when you move in, so you could go ahead with the payment straight away to make things faster.


Here are the contents of the document that needs to be sent.

1) Entrance and the rooms Keys
2) Paper/Permanent house form
3) The house documetary file.
4) Full Description of the house
5) Payment Receipt
6) Signed Lease Agreement Form you are supposed to also sign and get it sent back to me. So please do get back to me today so that I will let know the next step to take concerning the payment....The house is available for rent for up to 4 years,so you are free to decide on how long you intend occupying it...Rent already includes utilities.. It has a Central Air and Heat,refrigerator,washer,dryer,oven,internet,Cable TV,Air conditioner..It also has a garage and i'm ready to accept either monthly or upfront mode of payment..depending on the one you're most comfortable with..Utilities include: power, water,sewer and trash.. Your monthly rent already covers utilities so you do not have to pay extra charges for that.. Please note that the deposit made is fully refundable should in case you finally gain entrance to the house after receiving the keys and documents and feel unsatisfied or uncomfortable with the interior,but i am giving you a benefit of doubt that you will love everything about this lovely home...


Thanks and Remain Blessed,


Chris Coleman

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What an idiot. I could devise a better scam than that. He should have sent a pdf REAL application form. He should have grilled us for some REAL information. What an idiot.

So I reported him to Craigslist, I documented the ISP from his emails, and looked it up, he's in Ebene, Mauritius which is not Nigeria. He's probably like some 12 year old kid.

So he's sort of Frenchish and I'm done investigating.
Craigslist has removed his listing

Does anyone know where else I should report it? I'm done investigating, my curiosity has been quenched. He sent me this email this morning

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I expected your e mail last night in regards to my acceptance of letting you move in to my home,but i didnt hear back from you.I would still like to know whats going on regarding the rental fees and let me know how you want to proceed about the payment for the first month,so i could make the preparations of getting the keys of the home and documents to you. T

hanks and God Bless you

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and I responded

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You're crazy. Good luck with your scam.

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I think we found a house, it's awesome, a green 4 bedroom with a great yard and room for 2 horses- imagine that, we move to the city 7 end up with a horse property and the owner is a real lady, I think she's a Doctor and if she hates us for ruining our country's economy, we can go with the other nice lady who has a pink Victorian house that we like second best.












Lotsa crazy crud going down at the Hannigan house. Don't miss another post,

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