2063390186

MATHEW BETANCOURT
khe_0101@att.net

Called from
(504)355-3301

Sounds like a scammer.

Waikiki Property

Agreed. Thank God for this website

Unfortunately just found this posting after wiring money to Paul J Laincz at TD Bank in PA. I have the account number for this person and have verified that my monies have been received. Was told that Mathew Betancourt was the property Manager and Paul Laincz was the property owner. I Have filed report with local police and have the risk management (Fraud Department) of my bank looking into this scam. Chances of recovery are slim. Does anyone know how to take this jerk? Would love to be in on it.

I almost sent this guy $1000 today. Just happened to look on google for the "owner" of the vacation condo he's scamming. I haven't let him know that I know he's scamming, but I did manage to find the real property managers and let them know he's stealing their pics and posting on craigslist.  I'd love to get this guy.  I had told him this vacation was birthday present for my 96 yr old grandmother who wanted to stay at the ocean, but I needed to know about walker/wheelchair access.  Can you imagine!  Not only stealing from everyone, but especially 96-yr old handicapped women?!  This guy needs to be stopped!

He's using name of Chris Ebbs with email address: crtx1971@yahoo.com
Here's where he said to send the money:
> Robert Munei
>
>11503 Charleston Street
>
>Adelanto, CA 92301.
>

He has placed numerous ads on CRAIGSLIST for rentals in Satna Barbara.  I happened to live 5 houses away for one of these "exclusive" rentals....walked to the house and frightened the tenants.
SCAMMER for sure.
Robert Munei - Adelanto, CA

He has placed numerous ads on CRAIGSLIST for rentals in Satna Barbara.  I happened to live 5 houses away for one of these "exclusive" rentals....walked to the house and frightened the tenants.
SCAMMER for sure.
Robert Munei - Adelanto, CA

I almost sent him money today as well for a vacation rental in Laguna Beach.  It was also posted on Craigslist and he used the name Mark Warren and the e-mail of mwcrtx@yahoo.com.  I was supposed to moneygram the money to him at:

Robert Munei
11503 Charleston Street
Adelanto, CA 92301

I am so thankful that I googled the name and address of the "owner" where I was to send the money to.  I would have been scammed $950.  Thank you for all who have posted this information so I was able to find out about this scam.  Makes me sick to my stomach that someone would do this....  We would have lost out on our only family vacation for the year with our two young kids.

I've been looking into this rental (1212 Bourbon  St New Orleans, LA 70116) and I'm a little doubtful of craigslist. Have you had any development in this? Did you end up going?

That address that you quoted is the same address that someone wrote in about (1212 Boubon St.)  Check the above posts.   I would not send any money!!!

Any luck with the FBI. He scammed me too for a home in La Selva Beach...Here's his email....

Thanks for your interest. Attached to the mail is the Rental Booking and Agreement Form. I want you to complete and return it back to me via e-mail as soon as possible. The total deposit amount to confirm your reservation with us is $500 which will be wire via Western Union to the owner. Proceed to locate to any nearest Western Union location or visit C.V.S store to send the deposit..I will be at the property 30 minutes before your arrival to check you in and handover the keys to you.

Below is the Name and Address to send the deposit.

Name : Robert Munei
Address : 11503 Charleston Street
Adelanto, CA 92301.


Kindly get back to me with the deposit payment information below so that l can prepare and forward your receipt to you immediately.

Sender's Name............
Sender's Address.........
MTCN#.............
Amount............

Once the deposit is confirm, you will receive receipt immediately to confirm your reservation for your chosen date. I look forward to read from you soon.

Thank you
MICHEAL
619-356-6634

I was searching for a home to rent in the Santa Barabara area and came across an ad for a luxurious home for $400 a night. I knew it was too good to be true but emailed him and received the following response from a James Jackson:

Thank you for showing interest. The property is still available for the date chosen. I am sure that this is one of the best property you can get around at this reasonable rate but i cannot guarantee the hold of the property until you book for it. You are required to pay the full rental fee and a refundable security fee of $200 to enable me hold the property for you as there is rush for the property at this time. I will issue you a receipt confirming your payment. You get to notify me of the exact time you will be arriving in to make arrangement to pick you up. There is no extra charges for this also. I will render this service for free. I am an agent.We accept Bank Deposit as for of payment I will send you our booking and payment form as soon as i have your reply to know you are interested in the property.

Property Address :  4840 Sandyland Rd Carpinteria, CA 93013.

2 NIGHTS   = $800 inclusive of tax and cleaning fee & discount fee
SECURITY:$200    (Will be refunded when you Checking out)
TOTAL DEPOSIT: $1000

I wrote him back for his phone number and received  the (619) 356-6634 number. Googled it and as I had suspected it, he is a fraud. Sad thing is I found the legitimate rental agents and told them and they said, yes this happens often and despite them telling craigslist, craigslist is not doing a thing about it. I was a big fan of craigslist but craigslist's lack of seeing its responsibility and acting as a major vehicle in fraud, prostitution, sale of stolen goods, thefts, and other such crimes and doing something to address these issues makes me stay away from craigslist.

Thank God for this site. I almost sent this a hole money for a Laguna Beach rental. As of 6/27/12 he is using the name James Jackson and having western union sent to
Name : Robert Munei
Address : 11503 Charleston Street
Adelanto, CA 92301
619-356-6634

What a piece of crap!

Thanks to all of you for your posting of this fraud.  Today I almost wired him $700 for an ocean front unit in Laguna Beach Calif.  So glad my daughter checked this site.  The rental agreement he sent me looked sooo real and sooo up front.  The language and spelling in the emails were like some of
thoes scams from some foreign country.  Be careful people or you will lose your hard earned cash.

I'm stringing this guy along he has a rental listed at York beach Maine, I said send me the agreement he sent an agreement for Santa Monica, then emailed and said that was a typo. So I'm going to send $1 Western Union. Who knows where the guy or girl is from could be anywhere, I just want to f*#k with him now and lead him on. They have a lot of time on their hands to be the crooks they are. I also asked to give me his phone number just in case my wife has any questions....Turn the tables on them that's all.

So glad I checked into this!
The crook has added a new/different address:

Name : Robert Munei
Address : 11345 Essex Ct.
Adelanto, CA 92301

So sketchy! I set up a paypal account and had almost transferred money when I found "Keith Simmons" as an alias on this site, THANK YOU everyone.

I received several emails to set up a vacation rental in Bethany Beach, DE. Then received a very official rental agreement form, no typos or anything amiss. Very tricky! Except then the rental property address wasn't filled in, he refused to tell me even the street name, and then I was supposed to just forward money into "Sassyjo62@yahoo.com" followed by a request to transfer to "Curtisswart@sbcglobal.net"

The rental form had:
Owners Name: Linda Brady
Agent Name: Keith Simmona

while the email address used was:
keith simmona <Simmons.homerentals01@housemail.com>

This has been so upsetting and it didn't even work, I really appreciate the people who have contributed to this site.

Guy is trolling Folly Beach ads on Craigslist.  Thanks for all your post.  I about made a mistake with this A$$
Hello****

Thanks for booking with us, Attached booking and agreement form... Which you have requested for in order to make reservation with us.I want you to fill it and email the Reservation form back to us asap so that we can make the reservation for your chosen date. You will make a total deposit payment of $365 to the owner .......... Refundable security fee plus %50 required for the reservation of the rent...........The deposit payment will be transfer to the owner of the property Bank Account information, Here is the owner information you will send the property rent to......i will be at the property location one hour before your arrival time to hand over the key to you and check you in .

How to complete the payment? Follow these instructions:

Acct Name, Crystal L. Clark.    
Acct #  84578846 ABA
Routing #103112976
Bank address: Arvest Bank, 502 S. Main Mall Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103-4425
Receiver's Name and Address

Please kindly get back to me immediately with the payment information given to you while deposit is transferred to the owner so i can prepare your receipt asap, please remember to print and come along with the payment receipt that i will attach and forward to you after Confirmation of deposit.

Notice: Is only when payment has been transfer to the owner before we can secure your reservation dates.

Once the owner deposit is confirm , You'll receive your Receipt immediately to confirm your reservation for your chosen date.

Thanks for making reservation with us.
Regards

Oh my goodness! We were almost scammed also!  We were trying to book a vacation at Killington Vermont and found an available condo ski in/ski out that seemed almost too good to be true!  Got a little fishy with the email correspondence with several different names and then he asked for the money to be wired. That's when I googled his name and found this site!  He is still using Robert Munei and the address he used is in Adelanto, CA. The phone number he texted from was 207-619-3410.  Wow, I can't believe this guy is still getting away with this!  We reported to Craigslist, but I hope this investigation will go further!  Unbelievable!  I guess when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Thanks to all of you for previously posting which confirmed our suspicions!  You saved us, so I am posting this in hopes to warn someone else who is unlucky enough to encounter this guy.

I was trying to book a rental place in Austin Texas, and I found on Craigslit  the following post:

$50 / 2br - 1900ft² - Glamours Relaxation Apt In TX (Austin)

The apartment is outstanding in having bedrooms with en suite bathrooms, high quality wood and wrought iron furnishing and all German kitchen facilities. Separate air conditioning in each of the two bedrooms and the living room. Extra heavy doors secured by three bolt locks and calling from front door with remote opener. A pleasant and practical abode while in Cannes, be it on business or for leisure, its has all the amenities such as A video player and DVD player are provided. Free High Speed Internet.

Note: the post included pictures


Compare to other rentals $50 is a very low price, I was already suspicious but I decide it to send an email anyway.  This is the response I got from Mrs. Bridget.

hank you for showing interest. The apartment is available for the dates chosen. I am sure that this is one of the best apartment you can get around at this reasonable rate. But I cannot guarantee the hold of the apartment until you book for it. You are required to pay 50% of the total rental fee and a Refundable security fee of $200  to enable me hold the apartment for you,as there is rush for the apartment at this time.The apartment is $50  per night. Check the below quotes for the cost of nights you intent to stay in the apartment.

Address: 3501 South First Street Austin, TX 78704.

3      NIGHTS =   $150

%50 DEPOSIT   =   $75

SECURITY FEE  =   $200

All you have to do to hold the apartment is to pay a 50% of the total rental fee, plus the Refundable Security Fee which is $200.  which will be given back to you on the day you departing from the apartment,  Once you have made the payment I will issue you a receipt confirming your payments. There are also door men and cleaners who would come at intervals under your request to clean and attend to your needs.This also does not attract any extra charges. You get to notify me of the exact time you will be arriving in TX to make arrangement to pick you up. There is no extra charges for this also. I will render this service for free.I will send you our booking form and agreement as soon I have your reply to know you are interested in the apartment.

Regards
Mrs. Bridget.



Bridget Brackins
bbapt40@aol.com


TOTALLY SCAM PEOPLE.

Maui apartment scam from "Mrs. Bridget"

Thanks to everyone here...I came across this thread after getting what I felt was a suspicious reply from this craiglist post about an apartment in Maui. Here is the reply - similar to all of yours.  Stay away!

-----------------------------
Hello,

Thank you for showing interest. The apartment is available for the dates chosen. I am sure that this is one of the best apartment you can get around at this reasonable rate. But I cannot guarantee the hold of the apartment until you book for it. You are required to pay 50% of the total rental fee and a Refundable security fee of $200  to enable me hold the apartment for you,as there is rush for the apartment at this time.The apartment is $50  per night. Check the below quotes for the cost of nights you intent to stay in the apartment.

Address: 411 Hobron Lane, Honolulu, HI 96815

7      NIGHTS =   $350

%50 DEPOSIT   =   $175

SECURITY FEE  =   $200

All you have to do to hold the apartment is to pay a 50% of the total rental fee, plus the Refundable Security Fee which is $200.  which will be given back to you on the day you departing from the apartment,  Once you have made the payment I will issue you a receipt confirming your payments. There are also door men and cleaners who would come at intervals under your request to clean and attend to your needs.This also does not attract any extra charges. You get to notify me of the exact time you will be arriving in HI to make arrangement to pick you up. There is no extra charges for this also. I will render this service for free.I will send you our booking form and agreement as soon I have your reply to know you are interested in the apartment.

Regards
Mrs. Bridget.


Bridget Brackins
bbapt40@aol.com

This Mrs. Bridget sure manages a lot of houses. Thanks for the scam diligences - this thread saved me from a disaster.

------------------------

Hello,

Thank you for showing interest. The apartment is available for the dates chosen. I am sure that this is one of the best apartment you can get around at this reasonable rate. But I cannot guarantee the hold of the apartment until you book for it. You are required to pay 50% of the total rental fee and a Refundable security fee of $200  to enable me hold the apartment for you,as there is rush for the apartment at this time.The apartment is $50  per night. Check the below quotes for the cost of nights you intent to stay in the apartment.

Address: 3501 South First Street Austin, TX 78704.

12     NIGHTS =   $600

%50 DEPOSIT   =   $300

SECURITY FEE  =   $200

All you have to do to hold the apartment is to pay a 50% of the total rental fee, plus the Refundable Security Fee which is $200.  which will be given back to you on the day you departing from the apartment,  Once you have made the payment I will issue you a receipt confirming your payments. There are also door men and cleaners who would come at intervals under your request to clean and attend to your needs.This also does not attract any extra charges. You get to notify me of the exact time you will be arriving in TX to make arrangement to pick you up. There is no extra charges for this also. I will render this service for free.I will send you our booking form and agreement as soon I have your reply to know you are interested in the apartment.

Regards
Mrs. Bridget.


Bridget Brackins
bbapt40@aol.com