Ellie Addison

Jonathon – Mar 02, 2020

Victim Location 33015

Type of a scam Rental

My husband and I have been searching for apartments in the Miami area for a while now. I received an e-mail from "Ellie" asking me if we were still interested in a particular listing. I send e-mails or sometimes our contact information every now and then for apartments that we are interested in (like on apartments.com or Zumper) so it didn’t surprise me that someone was reaching out to us. The red flags occurred to me during the second e-mail (asking for a down payment just to visit the apartment and asking for personal information so they can register us with air bnb) in addition to the timing of the e-mails and use of two different weird e-mail addresses. I have taken our our personal information below. Please see e-mail thread:

On Feb 23, 2020, 7:52 AM

Ellie Addison :

Hi,

I`m answering the e-mail I received from you about my apartment located

at 125 Jefferson Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

It is a beautiful 2 bed and 2 bath. The rent is 1100 per month with

utilities included.

If you like the place and you want to rent if for a min of 12 months,

you will have also one month for free.

I would like to know, some information about yourself like age and

occupation.

Will you live there by yourself ? When do you plan to move in? For how

long you intend to rent the place?

Thanks!

I replied Feb 26, 2020, 6:55 PM:

Hi Ellie,

Thank you for reaching out. I’m 31 years old and I live with my husband ————- (30 years old). I am a Registered Dietitian and I work at ——————– as the Clinical Nutrition Manager. My husband attends ——— law school and also works part time for the school. We have been searching for a place that is closer to my job and would be very interested in a tour of the apartment. If we like the apartment, we would love to move in as soon as it is available. We would definitely need to rent for at least 1 year so the minimum of 12 months is okay with us. We would actually even be interested in knowing if there is a possibility of extending the lease. Please call or text me if the apartment is still available and we can schedule a time to see it.

My cell phone is xxx-xxx-xxxx, thank you.

Then I received an e-mail on Feb 27, 2020, 12:45 AM from

Ellie Addison :

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. We own the place and our daughter lived there until 2 month ago when she got married and she moved to WA.

That`s why we decided to rent it.

Unfortunately, because of my job, it will be a bit difficult to meet you personally now for the moment we are in CA now and I am unable to travel right now. Last week I came there to meet a couple who was interested, but they never showed up, and it’s not comfortable to fly back and forth from CA, especially when work commitments are made. Because of that we decide to make everything through Airbnb, an international company that mainly deals with rentals.

They will organize the inspection and will also assist you in managing the payment.

I`ll make the booking registration for you with Airbnb, and they will send you by e-mail the booking confirmation containing all the rental information including the payment information.

You`ll have to make a down payment of 1 month of rent to Airbnb and after they will receive it, an agent will be assigned for your reservation, which will contact you to inspect the place. Can be even the same day when the down payment was made.

If you like the place, you`ll sign the lease, you`ll get the keys from the Airbnb agent and you can move in right away.

The down payment is 100% refundable, after the inspection if you do not like the place and you do not want to rent it, Airbnb will return your down payment in full immediately.

If you would like to proceed, please give me your details (full name, current address and phone number) and we will make the registration for you with Airbnb.

Thanks,

Ellie

I picked up on the following red flags from their 2nd email:

-The amazing (but unrealistic) price for the rental for this location

-The bizarre e-mail address when I paid attention

-The fact that I never heard of air bnb handling long term rentals

-Needing to make a down payment just to tour the apartment which is obviously ridiculous

-No contact information was provided/No signature line

-Them asking for my information so they can "register for me" as opposed to me entering information on my own

After I googled it, I quickly confirmed that this is a scam!! I hope these people get caught as others out there may fall for these nasty tricks. Thank you!