I keep receiving identical rental details from "different persons"

[jolielady]

Hello!
I posted an add on some site, asking for an apartment rental in Paris and I got a really nice offer, the proprietress has even sent me a photo and passport copy, and when everything seemed to be perfect, I received the other e-mail with exact the same message and details about the rental but from different e-mail address and signed by other name. This already happened to me once a year ago, when I posted an add on some other site.
I must admit that I am a little bit scared, since I am supposed to be a roommate with that girl, and I don't know what to do.
Does this happens often, and what is behind the story?
What is really strange is that she didn't ask for any deposit to be payed in advance, before I come to France and make a personal visit to the flat and definitely decide to rent the room. And I don't understand, if it's all about one person, why would someone do such a stupid thing to make someone aware that there's something going wrong by sending him those messages?
Thank you in advance!

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

There are a fair number of rental "scams" out on the internet.

One involves someone from another country (typically England, Scotland, Wales) wanting to rent and paying upfront with a large money order that is more than the deposit and rent. They request that the landlord/owner cash the order, keep the money owed for the deposit and rent and send the rest back. Later the person who cashed this learns the money order/cashiers check was fake and they now owe their bank ALL of this money.

The second scam involves folks who don't even own a property advertising it for rent. I've had at least one of my craigslist ads show up under another persons name. The idea is to get some money up front from the potential tenant (and in some cases involving empty houses actually have them more in and pay rent to this person) without the tenant realizing this isn't the actual owner.

It is possible that because you have received the same information from two different people and two different email addresses, the latter scenario MIGHT be what is going on.

Gail