Ok serious question and serious answers only please?

Question

i found and apt on craigslist and the person that i would be renting from wants me to send the downpayment via yahoo real estate escrow, and i have to send it through a money gram. (it is also through experian in which the renter did a background check) I really need this apt and ive been racking my brain trying to find out how reliable this method is. ive tried the better business bereau and they are closed and i cant find anything on their site. Ive tried yahoo help center and they suk! i cant find anything or anywhere i can send an email to in order to find out how reliable this service is. i have 24 hours to find the information i need before i am written off and the apt is given to someone else. is there any way i can find 411 to help ease my brain or is there anyone that has used this or tried this method and how does it work and how reliable is it i dont want to risk losing money that is very much needed. Please help me and thankx 2 those who reply with intelligent answers

Answer 1

I'm going to go ahead and say this guy is probably scamming you. If the apartment seems too good to be true, it probably is. I've never heard of a reliable company posting an apartment for rent on Craigslist or requesting money through the internet.

Ask this person who owns the property (if it's managed by a large corporation like most apartments are) and make out a money order to them. If this person won't accept a money order I can gaurentee it's a scam.

Ask yourself this: If someone was selling you a home and they asked you to send money through the internet and "gaurenteeing" you'd get the money back if you changed your mind, would you still send the money or not?

I've never heard of anyone giving you money back on a downpayment for anything and the whole "24" hours thing just makes it even more unbelievable.

Also, I've never heard of Yahoo! Real Estate Escrow. Please see: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/ind... http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?...

Search at yahoo.com for "Yahoo Escrow" and you will find nothing in the first 5 results for an escrow service to yahoo. Which means it doesn't exist (yahoo ALWAYS has their own webpages first unless it is a yahoo! answers question.)

Hope this helps.