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My ongoing conversations with an idiot.
Here's the backstory. My girlfriend and I are renting out our spare room, or trying to. We put up an ad on a popular website, meant to put renters and tenants together. This was the response we got.
Hello,
I am interested in renting your place you have for rent.I am a
female 25 years old from UK.I am coming to study in Canada
(MacEwan College) so i need an apartment/room to stay.I will
like you to tell me more about you and you can try as much as
possible to send me the pictures of the place,i do not smoke,no pets
and i dont drink,no party, i am friendly as well.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Jocinda Bowen
Ah! A tenant! Wonderful. Let's ask her how long she wants to stay.
I will love to rent the place for one year so let me have your full name and mailing address to send the deposit to
Sounds good to me.
Thanks, i will let you know when the deposit has been sent.Can i have your contact phone number?
It's been over a week. Haven't heard back, or seen money. Time to touch base.
Hi, Jocinda.
I don't mean to be pushy, but I'd feel a lot better if I had a good idea of
what your timetable is. Please let me know when you expect to mail your
cheque, when you expect to arrive, etc.
Our purpose for renting out the room is financial security. We'd feel better
with as much information as possible.
Thanks,
Mark
The payment has been sent and i will be coing over immediately you received it.
Hello,
How are you doing today?
I just want to know if you have gotten the payment my step dad send to you.Please get back to me as soon as possible.
Thanks
Hi, Jocinda.
I got your message just as I was logging on to tell you we just received the money orders.
The bank tellers told me it was in US funds, so the Canadian total was $2,023.70
That covers the deposit, and comes just $26.30 short of four months rent. We'll keep it in a savings account, and let the unspent money gain interest as we pull out only the monthly rent.
Andrea and I look forward to meeting you.
Mark Mallon
Now, this is odd, but even though the possibility of scam has occurred to me, it still could be legitimate. She could have intended to have her step-father pay for several months in advance. After all, when travelling to another country long term, you want some financial security to start off from. The letter that came with the money orders should have tipped me off, but I paid no attention to the email addresses listed as her father's "business" email addresses:
crudeoilandgasltd01@yahoo.com
crudeoilandgasltd02@gmail.com
crudeoilandgasltd03@hotmail.com
I typed them completely absentmindedly into the address bar, when I wrote the message above, to let everybody know simultaneously that the "money" had arrived. The fact that they were yahoo, gmail, and hotmail, had not occurred to me in the least.
Thanks for notifying me. My step dad Scott will forward my flight details to you soon so you could know when to pick me up and where. I will like to know if you or Andrea will be available to pick me up. Thanks.
Enter "Scott", the father.
Hello Mark Thomas,
How are you and your family? I hope you are fine?Thanks for every thing you have done for Jocinda i really appreciate all effort and love.I instructed the company accountant on phone to send you 500 us dolllars for the rent deposit since i m still in oversea working for my company branch and 1400 us dollars for Jocinda 's Ticket and travelling expenses.The accountant made a mistake sending all my allowance.It is very unfortunate i dont have much on me now,i have just paid for my bills,accommodation and mortagages So can't get Jocinda 's flight bookings done, reason i have given her most money with me in form of" money order" for the things she will be needing as soon as she comes over there,she will be paying you on the first day of every month in cash or paying you the whole rent depending on how you want it,you will need to send the travelling agent 1350 Canadian dollars through western union to get Jocinda 's Tickect And 100 Canadian dollars for the western union charges.I will be given you her flight details so that you or your flatmate can pick her from the Airport,if this wont be conveinent for both of you.She can take a taxi or cab to the house.This is the travelling agent information below.
SURNAME.................KESSINGTON
OTHER NAME............OSAS
ADDRESS:.................50 ARUNDEL CLOSE, STRATFORD LONDON. E15 1UH, UK .
You can locate the nearest wester union location near you
www.westernunion.com
Email the mtcn/control number and the actual amount you send.Please take care of her when she is around,you can show her around,ok,you will enjoy every minute with her.She is lovely and caring,she even bought you a gift from London which you will appreciate.Wishing for more understanding in the future.God Bless.
Scot
Ding ding ding ding. There go the alarms. So we stopped communicating with "Scot", who's name is spelled different in the "From" line, and Jocinda.
Good Day Mark,
How are you and your family?Did you got my last email about the problem with Jocinda Ticket stuff,i m still expecting to read from you soon.
Scott
Okay, jackass, you wanna keep this going? Fine.
Scott,
I'm afraid the money orders have not had time to clear the bank yet. Should Jocinda's flight be scheduled to soon for the process to complete, I am afraid she will have to purchase a cheap standby ticket. I understand this may be significantly less comfortable than she was expecting, so I'll cut her rent down for the first three months, to offset the financial burden.
However, since this was an error on the part of your company, they would probably be willing to make some compromise, as their simple mistake had monumental consequences. They will probably make some appropriate concession to avoid legal action, even if none is threatened.
Please pass on my sympathies to Jocinda for the predicament your company has put her in.
That felt good, but it's not over. Stay tuned, and we'll see exactly how long Scott is willing to keep trying, and how much fun I can have with him.
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