This was the title of one of the chapters in my book, “Where’s MY Bailout? Or, How to Make a Fortune in Real Estate with no Money Down.” Of course, the chapter title was somewhat tongue-in-cheek when the book was first published in 2012; however, with the explosion in hacking, identity theft, and Internet fraud, I think it is time to actually declare war on cybercrime and engage the military to neutralize the enemy.
Because of my reputation of finding bargains, I was charged with finding a beach house for a family reunion this August. Since I use Craigslist to hire contractors, purchase and sell items, rent properties and find bargains, I started my search there.
After narrowing the search to the Isle of Palms near Charleston, an ad for a beautiful house across from the beach at a bargain price popped up. The rental price might be considered too good to be true at only $1,600 for the week by some people. I responded to the ad and received an email from Christopher Sherrard telling me the property was available for my desired week with the following:
“The property can be obtained at the rate of $235 per night you are required to make a Refundable Deposit of $300 as a security fee, the refundable fee will be given back to you on your check out date. As soon as you have the full rent fee paid together with the $300 Refundable Security fee, the property will be reserved down for your date chosen and the payment receipt will be issued to you, payment is usually accepted via Bank Transfer. Let me know if you are interested so that i can forward you the rental booking terms and the agreement form in order to complete with the necessary information and you will have to return it back to complete your reservation.”
Obviously this is a scam and with a little online research, the Craigslist ad matched perfectly a rental property from a local agency advertising a $5,000 per week rate. A quick Google search of his name finds links to several warnings about the scam by Mr. Sherrard in resort cities around the country. Who knows how much money he as stolen already.
Our national government has a cybercrime reporting unit called the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
It is a joint venture between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (whatever the heck that is).
I reported the attempted fraud to IC3 and urged immediate action, as I was stringing Mr. Sherrard along with the promise of payment for the house. That was two days ago and the FBI has not responded. It may be too late to catch Mr. Sherrard in the act in this instance.
If we are indeed engaged in a “cyberwar” and foreign attacks are getting exponentially worse, it may actually be time to start taking out some of the front line solders. The FBI can start with a drone attack on Mr. Sherrard, perhaps eliminating some of his colleagues as collateral damage…
Because of my reputation of finding bargains, I was charged with finding a beach house for a family reunion this August. Since I use Craigslist to hire contractors, purchase and sell items, rent properties and find bargains, I started my search there.
After narrowing the search to the Isle of Palms near Charleston, an ad for a beautiful house across from the beach at a bargain price popped up. The rental price might be considered too good to be true at only $1,600 for the week by some people. I responded to the ad and received an email from Christopher Sherrard telling me the property was available for my desired week with the following:
“The property can be obtained at the rate of $235 per night you are required to make a Refundable Deposit of $300 as a security fee, the refundable fee will be given back to you on your check out date. As soon as you have the full rent fee paid together with the $300 Refundable Security fee, the property will be reserved down for your date chosen and the payment receipt will be issued to you, payment is usually accepted via Bank Transfer. Let me know if you are interested so that i can forward you the rental booking terms and the agreement form in order to complete with the necessary information and you will have to return it back to complete your reservation.”
Obviously this is a scam and with a little online research, the Craigslist ad matched perfectly a rental property from a local agency advertising a $5,000 per week rate. A quick Google search of his name finds links to several warnings about the scam by Mr. Sherrard in resort cities around the country. Who knows how much money he as stolen already.
Our national government has a cybercrime reporting unit called the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3): http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
It is a joint venture between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (whatever the heck that is).
I reported the attempted fraud to IC3 and urged immediate action, as I was stringing Mr. Sherrard along with the promise of payment for the house. That was two days ago and the FBI has not responded. It may be too late to catch Mr. Sherrard in the act in this instance.
If we are indeed engaged in a “cyberwar” and foreign attacks are getting exponentially worse, it may actually be time to start taking out some of the front line solders. The FBI can start with a drone attack on Mr. Sherrard, perhaps eliminating some of his colleagues as collateral damage…