Did I get scammed?
 

So we got an apartment off of (gasp) craigslist. We wired the $$ over to the guy and got confirmation from him that he received the $$. Now he seems to have fallen from the face of the earth.

How can I try to look this guy up? Any ideas?

Name: Marquis Craig
Address of property: 29 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris, France

Advice?

If it's a scam (which craigslist is popular for in Paris), I don't think you will find the guy. Bummer.

My advice- avoid craigslist for apartment rentals and do a search here on Fodors ("Search the Forums" tool) for an apartment. Or check for apartment reviews here-

http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/list.asp?r=Paris

sounds like you got scammed...there are many posts on finding a reputable rental company on this site...so sorry

I hope you find a way to get this scumbag!

we are renting from Paris Perfect

You sure were...

legions of scammers tax cheats on Craiglist

NEVER wire money always pay with CC/Paypal

parisbestlodge.com my fav there PayPal/CC only for me

EVERYWHERE! if you got tip insurance

always wise with cover u might recover

otherwise you probably are screwed glued and tatooed...

Do you have any contact info for this person? Did you sign a contract or get his address or phone number?

I agree that craigslist is known for scammers but I was just looking at the Paris vacation rental part of it and there are reputable companies listing there as well....

Also I have sent money through Western Union and it was perfectly fine so that's not always a scam either.

I've been lucky - I've rented from four individual owners in Paris from a couple of different websites and haven't had a problem.

I hope it works out for you!

This sucks - can't believe I fell for it. I wasn't even thinking about getting scammed, should have been more careful. Now I have 24 hours to find a place in Paris that can fit a family of 7 :(

Thanks all. And thanks Marquis, lesson learned.

I don;t understand. You rented this place without a contract? With no phone number? Without talking to the person you were renting from? Without references? Without checking on google earth?

Essentially you put cash in an envelope and sent to a PO box?

I'm sorry this happened - but you made no attempt at all to protect yourself.

You don't have a PHONE NUMBER for him? How did you let that happen? Personally, I would call the préfecture in the 6ème and see if you can file a report (if he even gave you a legitimate name and address), but you'd need good French to do that.

Have a look at this site all about common internet rental scams:

http://parishousingscamwatch.wordpress.com

These scams are common in major cities worldwide. The scammers themselves usually don't even live in the countries where they carry out their scams via the internet and so are often out of reach of authorities.

If you read French, here is an
official government page on e-scams : https://www.internet-signalement.gou...er!load.action
The chances of recovering your money are very slim but it might help others.
The Préfecture in the 6ème is closed since February 2011 and would have been helpless anyway.

Geez, that's a drag. Good luck finding lodging on such a short notice. I'm sure it's out there but finding it isn't going to be easy.
I threw the guys name into google and came up with a poker player from Texas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Marquis
Probably not the same guy but interesting, nonetheless.

craigs list is very open ( i just tried and i opened an account easily). It's a search garden not a booking fortress.

A student we know with a summer job here in Nantucket just got caught in the same scam. He sent the deposit for an apartment: first month, last month, security (in other words, a whole summer's rent). When he arrived, there was no such place.

Etap hotels sleep 3 to a room and are around 60E per night, per room, and they are ensuite. I have stayed at the Etap on Rue Dr. Babinski. 10 min walk to the bus, 15 to the Metro.

I don't understand what you did, either, if you had absolutely no information on this guy (no phone number, no address) and just wired money to where? If it were a bank account, that would be a clue but legally you'd probably need more than that to find out who was attached to a certain bank account. If you wired Western Union or some pickup place, forget it (I assume you didn't).

I did check the guy on the white pages in Paris and all of France and no such person has a public phone number, if that's any help. I found the phone numbers and names of about a dozen people living at that address, but none are even close to that name.

I don;t get this.

If you book a hotel you use a credit card, have the phone, fax and email of the hotel, can find reviews (and presumably read them), locate it on a map - you're protected.

How can someone just send money out into the blue making no attempt at all to be sure the address even exists? Naivte at this level is not charming past the age of about 10.

I'm sorry - I just don't understand.

Dear posters...

Fair warning.

Paypal provides you VERY little protection. So if you use it, please use it with a credit card. Paypal's main protection is for "paypal". If you show up, the apartment is not there and you file a dispute with paypal. they contact owner who says "folks stayed there why are they complaining" Paypal says "too bad" and you are out of luck. (While this one didn't happen to me something VERY close happened to my friends on a Florida vacation rental. It had no water, but owner claimed it was "fine" and paypal did nothing. Owner had closed account, paypal could not pull money back and therefore wouldn't do anything.)

This is so scary! Thank you for warning others, all of you who posted.

There IS a 29 Rue de Vaugirard, according to Streetview Google maps. Next door is a restaurant named Le Petit Lux. Perhaps you could contact someone there to find out if they know Mr Marquis Craig...but unless you've found mention of this rental on any of the other internet travel forums, most of the evidence is suggesting you've been scammed.

well, of course the address exists, I said in my post I read the name of about 6 or more people who live there, all you have to do is look in the French phonebook (search by address).

Whether an address exists doesn't mean much, any scammer worth his or her salt is going to give a real address that exists.