I’m trying to sublet my apartment, and so far I’ve got one person that’s interested. He’s a grad student from the UK coming to study at a nearby university for the summer. So far his story checks out. How should I accept payment? It looks like my bank won’t take an international check without jumping through a lot of hoops. I know that cashiers checks and money orders can be easily counterfeited. Could I walk with him to a post office, where he can buy a money order with a credit card and immediately hand it to me? Is paypal any good for this sort of transaction?
Yeah, I know, which is why I’m cautious. His story is way more plausible than the usual sort – uses a legitimate university email address, gave the details of the program he’ll be studying at, and will meet me in person right before moving in. He’s also given me some references that I’m checking out (professors he’ll be studying under for his graduate program). And around here, there are lots of international students coming and going, so this is hardly unusual.
Still, there’s always risks, which is why I’m trying to figure out which sorts of payment would be safest. I won’t accept any payment until I see him face to face.
If he shows up, suitcase in hand, and rents the room from me, what sorts of risks am I taking? Obviously he can give me a bogus form of payment, and get free housing for a few months before I manage to evict him. Anything else I should watch for?
True. But he could be an unscrupulous cheap bastard even if everything he’s told me so far is true (and it’s a given that grad students will be cheap bastards, with or without scruples). If he give me a bogus form of payment, he could essentially get free housing for a few months, since it takes that long to complete the eviction process around here. Though I suppose Immigration wouldn’t be happy with someone on a student visa committing fraud…
You’re in pretty much the same predicament that all landlords are. I think the usual plan is to do a background check, cash the check before they move in, and hope you don’t get screwed. Good luck!
The money order scam works as follows:
[ul]
[li]Scammer sends you a check for more than the required amount.[/li][li]Scammer asks you to deposit the check and send him the extra amount.[/li][/ul]
It’s probably not a scam if he’s going to send a check for the specific amount and he’s not asking for you to send anything back.
One way for you to be safe is to ask him to use Western Union to wire you the money. There wouldn’t be an opportunity for him to scam you this way.
You mentioned walking to the post office to get the MO. Why couldn’t he just hand you the money at that time? He’ll obviously have to have access to dollars if he’s living here.
My bank doesn’t make it easy for me to deposit an international personal check. He offered paypal as an alternative (which set off a few warning bells on my part), but also is willing to pay cash, which is probably simplest at this point.
When I rented a room in Paris from Canada, I sent the owner 100 Euros by paypal, and paid the rest in cash when I arrived. I made a thread about it here as well - I was convinced that he was the scammer. (For what it’s worth, it was the same situation - I was a grad student doing research and needed cheap, temporary accommodation and couldn’t wait till I arrived in Europe to find it.)