Reminders of why the internet is a scary place

So we've kicked out one of our roommates. She really stuck us in a lurch so we've been desperatly trying to get a new roommate ASAP. Well in today's world the quickest way to find a new roommate when everyone else you know has housing is to post on craigslist.

That's what I did as soon as I got myself to a viable internet source at home. I gave the bare minimum to get ppl interested in the apt and have been going from there. No one has anything more specific about the apt than what street it's on (not the number) and that it's two story. Well that's just about every apt on the street so that really doesn't give much away for the super crazies to try and find us.

Well our rent is pretty cheap for Charleston so I've gotten a lot of reponse for the room. I've had a lot of bot responses telling me where else to post my listing and ppl who just legit sound crazy or ask for all sorts of personal info right out of the gate to "send me money." These certainly haven't deemed and more than for me to hit the junk button and contiue about my day.

The other day however I recieved an e-mail from a girl name "Lauren Martin." Her first e-mail didn't seem to suspious. It was asking about the neighborhood and some general inquiries that I'd make about any apt I was looking at. I kindly answered her questions without giving away anything telling her where we were specificly and asked her some questions of my own in the effort to see if this girl could be a potential new roommate.

This is the next e-mail I got:
"Hello Meghan, Copmpliments of the season, i really appreciate your quick response and the details of the house,I'll be so glad if you can reserve the room for me, i will like to tell you more about me and my mission, i'm from Houston Texas,i'm a quiet,clean,honest,responsible and easy going person to live with, I'm 5' 9,straight, 26 years of age. I dont drink nor smoke but i'm cool living with people that do. I love to go on date but seldomly party. I swim for fun and sometimes play beach football... i lives with my Uncle here in TX,my Dad and mom's died when i was young ,roommie i want you to know that i have no friends in the area except you for now lol....I am currently working on a research pertaining to my course work on culture and tourism. I hope to end my current assignment before the end of this month here in Texas and focus on my new assingment to your States..I will like to make a payment of $911 and hold the room for me before my arrival, and then i will make subsequent payment thereafter as i plan to stay for more than 6months. So i'll client to see you'll get the payment prior to my arriving date.in my mail i explained i am simple and laid back person, and i'll prefer a quiet and easy going roomate....To be honest with you i really like if you van give a lil description of yourself, if you have the picture of the bedroom available, kindly forward it to my mailbox. I am really okay with the place...I am planning to arrive by the 10th of next month,so i will love to know if i can make the payment ahead of my arrival via business check,money order or personnal Check,Bank acctount ...so you will get the payment by next week and i can go ahead making arrangement for sending the payment to you. Also i will much apprecaite if you can mail your information like,your mailing address to refer the payment to,your full name,your contact number as to appear on the payment. I will like to ship in my car,luggage,laptop and other materials for my research ahead of my arrival...I will also like you to remove the advert from the site b'cos i am ready to have your place rented.....Hope to read from you soon.

Regards. Lauren"

First of all...the grammer in this letter is just terrible. I really don't know what she meant in parts of this e-mail.
Second...I don't know you. We are not friends, and I'm not reserving a room for someone who can't answer any of the questions I asked.
Third...this is my second e-mail from you. I under no circumstances would send you my name, address, bank account info, etc. Are you kidding?
Fourth...out of all the e-mails I've gotten, this isn't the first one to end "Hope to read from you soon." That's a little too repetative for me.

So obviously I stopped all communication with this "person" after this e-mail. Well today I wanted to look up another girl we're considering to be a roommate see if she was legit, etc. I found this girl online, she's legit and all that good stuff. Well I got curious about a few other ppl that had e-mailed me and started looking them up as well. Fun fact I learned about this "Lauren Martin"...she and the versions of the e-mails I got are on a website that document scammers for housing. Awesome.

So just remember ladies and gentlemen. This is why you DO NOT give out anything more than the bare necessities until you are POSITIVE about what's going on.

Crazies.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Martin Luther King, Jr.