Attention Canadian landlords, do not rent to Bob Draper.
Scam Artist: Bob Draper
We just recieved one of these. The original message was from Bob Draper. It says:
"Hello,
I am Bob Draper,my wife and i just got married,i work with Environmental Protection Agency in Canada and we are coming for our honeymoon in the states,kindly check if we can spend three nights at your place,(Dec 10 to DEC 13) .We dont have any pets neither we dont smoke or drink.Pls get back to me with the cost and availability.
Bob".
We sent rates, and some correspondence. Then he writes:
"Hello Am glad to inform you that the payment has been mailed to you and will get to you soon. However,there is a mistake on the check, our traveling expenses was included in the check for our booking. This was suppose to come in a different check that was supposed to go to our Logistic Agent and not in the one for our booking.But since it has been sent, just deduct the full cost of our booking and send the remainder to our Logistic Agent using Western Union money transfer so that she can make all necessary things we need to do with it pending the time of our arrival. I hope you understand this and we can be able to depend on you.We can't wait to be there. My regards to all the members of your family."
Similar to the others in this thread, but a different twist.
Bob Draper
17 comments:
Hmmm... Just set up a rental with the same guy... Very interesting. Glad I decided to google him.
did anyone go through the process with our friend bob draper? I mean did he actually send a check?? He is talking about a certified check..
He was interested in a vacation rental of mine. He said his wife's job pays for it for a wedding present. I gave him different dates than he wanted and he changed overnight. I am glad there was this site when i went to google him that said it was a foresure scam-THANKS!
I started my little rental with Bob in December, exact same scenario. He would never give me a phone number. I lost $267 on this for securing the reservation. I first was on to something when I noticed he was using 2 different emails. So I just started sending my replies to both. He promised that the check was on its way, not here, so I gave him until Friday January 2 to have the check here. Friday came and I cancelled the reservation. His vacation was to be Jan 7-10. I let him know if and when a check did show up that I would deduct me fee. A check for $5000 showed up on 1/13/09, it was cut on 1/9/09 after he was supposed to be on the vacation. I took the check to the bank and confirmed that it was fraudlant and reported it to the local police. I then decided to have fun with Bob -- I told him that the bank had a 10 business day hold on it and it wouldn't be until after it cleared that I would be able to do anything. He had the nerve to ask about renting another date from me. I let him know the price has gone from $350 to $750, he instructed me to go ahead and deduct the funds before I sent them off. I plan on keeping him going for awhile. Then let him know that he can get the check back from the police department. Did anyone else notice that he can't seem to keep the story the same, he vs she when refering to who or what? I did google the company that the check was written on and it was lagitimate. I also googled the company that he said he worked for, almost contacted them to confirm he was an employee. What is this world coming to? I wonder if he tries to use the rental properties at all.
Scammed by Bob
Bob Draper is still at it. He tried to rent from me today....all the same things posted....up to the same games.
Thanks for posting this information. I may have rented to him!
Bob Draper is still going full speed ahead. I just got an email from him 1/13/09 and several others since wanting to rent my condo. Also I have been getting emails from a Collins Bright which is pretty much the same wording. The content is very similar to what was stated in the article "don't rent to Bob Draper". Thanks to all who exposed him. I emailed him back a copy of this report
I received the same e-mail from Bob Draper as the Jan. 14th letter. I did not reserve our timeshare condiminium, but wrote him the costs. Eight days later after he wrote that he sent the wrong amount , I received the
$5000 check with Barbara Brennan School of Healing of Boca Raton, Fl. and Bank of America on it. I was supicious before, but really
supicious after seeing the USA names on the check from a Canadian My internet ad was not Craigs List, but Missouri Timeshare for rent.
Anonymous
Hi people! I thought how nice it would be to help others who are vacationing here in Utah to rent out a room for a little extra money to help buy our home. Good ol' Bob shows interest in my ad, and the scenerio unfolds as the others on this blog. Then as I welcomed him here to Utah and everything is confirmed, I told my husband. He then thought it sounded a little suspicious, so he googled, "Bob Draper" scam. There he was on this blog. Thank you, Thank you! I hope this man is caught. If and when I get this check from him, I will surely turn it in. The scary thing is, he has our address and phone number. I hope he disappears.
Thanks
Ok so me2 blah blah blah I wont bore you all with the same story again. BUT, we've got to cook up a little plan to get him back. He's the one playing with fire so let him get burned. Let him show up and have the boys waiting for him-I'm not talkin police either.
Ideas people?
Also, don't send him this page. The less he knows people know, the more people know how little he knows people know...You know?!! Keep up the good work folks.
Hello,
I believe the same man tried to scam me saying he wanted to rent my property. It was very similar except the name has changed. He actually sent me the money orders and I went to the local police but they didn't care. Who should I contact? I have fraudulent money orders in my possession!
I set up a rental with this guy, he's now on gmail and claiming that he is in London and his wife's company is paying for their vacation. I'm so glad I Googled him and found this site after the last email triggered my suspicions. Thank you for maintaining this site!
Following are the last two emails:
Thanks for the payment info,the check will be issued to you asap and as soon as i get the tracking number from the issuers of the check,i will email you the tracking Number bcos i dont want any delay towards the payment bcos of the dates.I will be very happy if you can tell me more about the house.
Thanks while I will be looking forward to read from you about the
question i ask you.
Thanks and God Bless
Hello_ How are you today,i am happy to inform you that the payment has been sent to you and will deliver to you soon.I was informed that our travelling funds was included to the money that was sent to you for booking and this was supposed to come in a different check that was suppsed to go to our travel agent.But since it has been sent,as soon as you get the check,i will like you to deduct the full cost for the booking and get the excess money to our agent and due to the short time before our arrival,i will like you to send the money to the agent through Western Union so that so that she can do all neccesary things pending the time of our arrival.I hope you understand this and we can be able to depend on you.
Thanks
Same scenario as those above. Wife's US-based company to pay for all expenses, yada yada. Thanks to Google and all who have posted!
Also getting VERY similar emails addressed from a Josh Anderson, but in the body of the email he says his name is Jon Anderson. Same poor grammar and sap-talk. Imagine what these crooks could get away with if they were actually semi-intelligent.
I guess in the world we live in, it's 'Seller Beware!' Good luck to all.
I also got a bob draper email. We can all sit here and complain but these people will NOT go away as long as one in a thousand fall for it.
So how do you fight back? There's not much you can do but here's an idea. Get a yahoo account used only for this purpose. Have them send a check to some bogus address. Then string them along. It really pisses them off. At least it costs them some postage and time.
By the way, blogs like this are extremely helpful in identifying these people. Many thanks to those that post these things.
Just got one from 'Louice Park' Similar to Draper, here's the email:
Thanks for your prompt response.I have discussed this with my Wife
about this and we have agreed to use your place for 7 night of Oct 7 to 15 and as for the cost, we are alright with it. My Wife's
employers will be the one responsible for all our vacation expenses as a wedding gift and hey have promised to send you
a certified check as soon as you have penned these dates down for us.
Kindly email me your full name,physical address, home and cell phone number so that
the payment can be mailed out to you soon. Waiting to read from you
I played the game. The rent would be $300 but the check was for $4500. He wanted to have the overpayment sent to him. The timeline was very small. If you are a nice guy, you want to help. YOu quickly respond without thinking. By the time I ended the conversation he had given me 5 different addresses. The only error on the check was the misspelling of Illinois. VEry deceptive.
Also, when I indicated that I had something available, I got an additional 10 emails from 10 more people. All wanting a 3 day vacation. I didn't bother with them!!
I listed my house and got two emails from two different people. Dr. Gerald Stoikov and another from John Edwards. The "good doctor" wanted to rent for one year and would be paying the security deposit & three months rent in advance through the form of a cashier's check. John Edward is a God fearing man and will be spreading the word of god in my community and wanted to enter a 12 month lease and would pay the security deposit and 6 months of rent in advance. Both people are from London. Didn't sound right so told them they could send me check and I would hold onto checks until they arrived and looked at my place & if liked it then we could sign lease and I'd deposit money. If they change their mind, they'd have to wait for check to clear before I issued refund. Both are asking why I am prolonging the process of them being able to rent my property. I am still stringing them along and want to see how long I can do that before they realize it's not going anywhere.
Just received a similar inquiry on our time share rental from gentleman with e-mail address Dr. John Honeycutt. Yet fella signed the e-mail Collin Baright. I requested his phone number so we can chat. I'm guessing he won't reply, so everything will B Alright Mr. Baright.
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