Crime & Safety
Ecco Man Swindled in Craigslist Apartment Scam
A woman claiming to be moving from Spain took his money after mailing a bad check.
An Ecco man trying to rent his apartment online was swindled out of $1,800.
The man placed an ad on Craigslist for the $1,100 a month apartment on the 3400 block of Girard Avenue and received a reply from a woman who said she was moving to Minnesota from Spain.
After corresponding through text messages, the woman sent him a check by FedEx for $3,200—almost $2,000 more than the rent.
She then persuaded the man to send $1,800 via MoneyGram to a Maryland car dealership so that, according to the police report the man eventually filed, she “would have a vehicle when she arrived in Minnesota.”
On May 7, the woman asked the man to send her an additional $600, at which point he discovered that her original check had bounced.
When he informed her of the bounced check, she responded that “the check is good.”
Minneapolis police are using the FedEx routing number from her check to investigate the case.
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