There is a real Dave Erickson trying to sell his house, but he is not at that email address. If a person from the above email address responds to your inquiry of a home, don’t trust them and don’t send them any money.
The first potential victim is the real homeowner. The second potential victim are renters like Casey Reves. “Got on the internet and just typed up houses for rent on yahoo search.” Reves thought she found her dream house. “The house was beautiful. It was a big house, a 3 bedroom, 2 and a half bath.” So she sent an email to who she thought was the homeowner - Dave Erickson. The email address, dave.erickson34@yahoo.com. “He sent me a rent application form, I filled it out. he said your approved and give me a 700 dollar money gram and a five hundred dollar deposit.”
But the scam artist was just borrowing the identity of the real homeowner. He even made up the email address, using the real Dave Erickson’s name. “Now I have to look for a property manager to rent it. What would help me, the person trying to rent is to educate everyone out there to be aware.”
Be aware that crooks and con artists also have access to these websites. “He said the lady who usually has his keys was sick and in the hospital and he would mail me the keys, once I would show him the MoneyGram.”
Source: Rental Scams Warning
[...] phony email address with the owners name in attempts to try to appear the be the owner. See dave.erickson34@yahoo.com - Watch Out For This Scammer for more [...]
Pingback by Why is the Same Property For Rent at Two Very Different Prices? | Rent and Lease Housing's Blog — February 25, 2009 @ 8:13 pm