James Salvucci,the owner of a house my brother and I were looking into to rent, placed an ad on Trulia.com for a $700 a month rental of a home in an excellent neighborhood in Hollywood, Florida. The address is 955 Van Buren Street, Zip Code 33020.
Having first received an online application through an e-mail sent by Mr. Salvucci, I contacted him that way and filled out the application as best as I could. However, there were parts of both his e-mail and the application that were disconcerning. For instance, he wanted to know whether I could and would pay a fee to get the key. I thought there was up with that. I wrote, yes with a signed contract/lease.
He responded with a text today, January 10th. He also tried to call, though I couldn't hear a word he was trying to say.
We then continued texting. I still have that conversation on my phone. Though the bottom line was that in order to see the property, I must first sent $600. He must've sensed my hesitation; He quickly lowered it to $300. I Suggested he get a neighbor or realtor at no fee to him, show the place. He said no to that. I said I would have to speak to my brother, who is actually the one who will live there steadily. That was this afternoon. In the midst of all the texting, I actually called my brother and stated my suspicions that this was fraud. He wasn't sure, but he also didn't want to miss out on the greatest deal on earth! It was a full house in a great neighborhood, for a measly price. That send up the ALERT to me even more. If its too good to be true, it can't be believed.
I do not intend on sending any money to Mr. Salvucci. There is definitely some type of FRAUD going on.
Mr. Salvucci said after he received the money through Fed Ex, he would then send the Keys and Documents to sign. He never used the word lease, by the way. He always said, " Documents."
Below, I have copied and pasted the e-mail he sent me.
By the way, I now see another similar letter regarding another rental location from the same site, Trulia.com in my mailbox again. More people with the same idea of how to scam money from people!
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Hello Dear ,
It is a great pleasure that to you are interested in my flat.....Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hear from you.I am James Salvucci,the owner of the house you are making Inquiry of.Actually I reside in the house with my family but we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in the (Miamisburg OH) and presently my house is still available for rent for $700 per month including the utilities like hydro,washer and Electricity.Please i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest person and also i spent a lot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintenance of this house and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money that is the main problem that's why the rent fee is cheap 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 do that once in a while.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.
SO IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED I WILL WANT YOU TO FILL THE RENT APPLICATIONS FORM BELOW
RENT APPLICATION FORM
PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
Name (First name/ Middle name/Surname ) : __________?
Phone # : __________?
E-mail : __________?
Nationality __________?
Best time to call : __________?
How many proposed occupants : __________?
List all in addition to yourself including approx age : __________?
Present Address : __________?
City/State : __________?
Will you have pets : __________?
Please describe Breed, size : __________?
Personality of pet : __________?
Preferred move in date : __________?
Intended length of lease: __________?
Earliest possible date of deposit and fisrt month rent payment: __________?
Do you agree to pay the payment before you move in:__________?
Length of previous tenancy : __________?
Present occupation : __________?
Are you a section 8 applicant : __________?
Do you run a business from home : __________?
If so what kind of business : __________?
Do you work late night : __________?
Do you smoke : __________?
Do you agree to make out the payment before getting the keys : __________?
HOW SOON DO YOU WANT TO RECEIVE THE KEYS_______
YOU PICTURE AND YOU WIFE PICTURE?____________
Do you drink : __________?
You could give me a call as soon as possible so we could proceed asap.
My cell phone number is:(786) 571-5623
Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case 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 key to you ,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that,we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this.
That's the letter
Thank you for your assistance in following up and stopping people from foolishly trusting this scammer.