I saw a place on Craigslist and decided to see if I could rent it. Well the gentleman emailing me was living in the UK and said we could use rentreporters.com to set up the transaction.... I looked into this and am thankful I did as I found on ripoffreport that someone in the U.S. had experienced the same thing and received the exact same emails as me.
Below is the last email I received from the contact prior to finding out it was a scam. The email address that was contacting me was, alexander_cherron@aol.com
You only have to deposit to RentReporters company the first month of rent from contract + damage deposit a total of 1250CAD so they can proceed with the shipping, and you can receive the rental package (the keys and the documents). I will pay for a 3-4days delivery time so you will receive the keys and the contract signed by me right away. I will explain you step by step how this process will work:
1 - To start the process all I need is your full shipping info (full name, address and your phone number).
2 - I will go to the RentReporters Safe Exchange office to deposit the keys and the contract on your name as the intended receiver.
3 - RentReporters Safe Exchange will check the package to see if everything is in order and also the legal papers that will come along with the keys and proof of ownership with their Real Estate Professional Department in London. They will also confirm with the building manager that I'm the legal owner of the apartment I'm renting to you.
4 - RentReporters Safe Exchange will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the keys and the papers in their custody. They will also send you all the payment instructions to complete the rental transaction.
5 - You must send a money deposit on the RentReporters Safe Exchange Agent Name for the amount we agreed (for the first month of rent & damage deposit). The payment needs to be sent within 24 hours after you receive the transaction details or else they will charge me an additional fee.
6 - After you make the deposit you must send the payment details to RentReporters Safe Exchange.
7 - RentReporters Safe Exchange will verify the money transfer and if everything is in order they will start the shipping procedures using UPS or TNT Next Day Shipping Service.
8 - After you receive the package, you must go to check the apartment and in 5 days (inspection time) you must contact RentReporters Safe Exchange to inform them if you keep the apt or not. If everything is in order RentReporters will forward the funds to me. If you don`t want to keep the apartment you will receive a full refund in the final inspection time in cash from the agent who will come to your place to sign the rental contract.
Please note that RentReporters Safe Exchange will not release the funds to me without your approval.
Let me know if you have the funds available (1250CAD) so we can move forward and e-mail me your details (full name, address, phone #).
For any questions regarding the transaction you can contact me or send me your phone number and I will call you.