rental scam

[Rimbaud]

I know there are some threads on this, but the situation is a little different.

My friend, he is in a Latin American country. A place where a lot of gringos visit, or move to perminately.

He rents a nice room in an apartment, in a great location downtown, in a trendy area. There are some other people renting rooms in this apartment also. ..which can be a damper on this.

He had a idea (and who know if he`ll even do it)

He leaves for back home to his own country on March 27th.
so at the begining of March he wants to advertise the apartment for rent.
he will show off the apartment to gringos here.

monthly the room rents for 300$ USD
plus deposit of another 300$
there is no lease in reality, though one could be fabricated.

People could ``move in`` April 1st. Again, my friend goes back home March 27th. giving him a few days to get lost. ...or if enough funds are made, just go somewhere else in the same city...though a south american jail isn`t very appealing to my friend.

what he was thinking was charging people a minimum stay of 2 months, plus a deposit that is ``refundable`` if no damages are made.
so this is 900$ per person.

if there are 5 people that will like to rent the room that is 4500$
my friend isn`t sooo greedy and scamming 5 people seems pretty realistic
even 3 people, can make 2700$

if there are certain things my friend should do or not do, be careful of, ect.
please let me know so I can inform them.

[Rimbaud]

...come on, at least let mt friend know that this is a terrible idea...some input would be nice.

[gusboy]

This will never, ever work at your own apartment. Remember...you have to LIVE there. They will come back day after day with police until they see you go down.

[Rimbaud]

http://www.zoklet.net/bbs/showthread.php?t=137053

this thread tells a tale of a girl that lived in a house, then rented it to some people.

she took their money and disapeared.

my friend is looking for info on the subject.

what to be wary of, how a person can not be caught.

[gusboy]

Yeah that's because the girl didn't own or live in that place...she disappeared. You said that you live there so how is it not going to blow up in your face when they come knocking on your front door AND YOU'RE THE ONE WHO ANSWERS.

[Rimbaud]

I`m not sure if you are understanding...

that thread, the girl DID live in that house.
she sub-let`d to another person.

took their $$ and vanished.



my friends idea is to ``rent`` the place they are in now, but also vanish.

[gusboy]

No the girl used to be an old tenant but apparently she pulled the scam in the last few days before she permanently moved away. So if you are planning on doing it and then permanently moving away and never coming back to that place, then it might work.

[Rimbaud]

Originally Posted by gusboy

No the girl used to be an old tenant but apparently she pulled the scam in the last few days before she permanently moved away. So if you are planning on doing it and then permanently moving away and never coming back to that place, then it might work.

...that was exactly what i have been saying all this time.

[gusboy]

My bad, I misunderstood your OP and thought you were going on vacation then coming back. Sorry.

[Rimbaud]

Originally Posted by gusboy

My bad, I misunderstood your OP and thought you were going on vacation then coming back. Sorry.

well my friend was thinking of either going back to his home country.

or, stay in the same city, in a different area.

if they make 4000$ profit...that can last almost a year where he is.