Strange ad I'm almost falling for... is it dangerous...??

Ok, this is kind of weird.. for starters.
My mother wants to sell the apartment and she wants to move temporarily somewhere so that when someone shows the apt. it would look decent without all the mess...
Anyway, she doesn't have money to rent another place during that period and the only option was to search for something that is free in exchange for maintenance and taking care of the house.
The only ad I found in my country is quite interesting. She of course got all worked up, because it's almost a dream come true for her. The house is beautiful, and they are not asking for any money. Just to take care of the house... for 3 years..!
I was doing credit card report through CL's real estates myself, and I'm quite suspicious about this ad... The thing that got me all puzzled is that when I goggled the e-mail I got the same ad on the other site, with same pics of the house, but another city was listed. I figured it was some kind of a tricky scam, since it sounded quite legit until that..... Then I found that the real estate company they are supposedly clients off, actually exists and is quite big. It has offices in 4 towns in my country or so....
So now I'm puzzled.
In first mail I told them we're interested.
In their first reply they have sent me photos of the house's interior and told me they travelled to Africa, and have the keys and documents of the house with them. I don't know why I would need the documents if I'm only taking care of the house, but they told me they'll send it to me through delivery service, but they want us to pay for the delivery.
That wouldn't be a problem if everything else is legit, but it all sounds strange to me.
So, as you see, they also need our private info.

Why would someone who doesn't know anything about you give you a house to move in tomorrow, if you want, and then come to check on you after whole month??

I cant tell them "Oh, sorry, but I don't know you, so I can't give you my personal info and address" or "Could you please, pay for that delivery since you're paying for everything else." In case they are legit.

But I cannot just trust them since I saw the same ad, translated poorly with a goggle transl. on two different sites, listed under two different cities, with same photos...
Ok, it could be some sort of error, but why didn't the real estate broker, that according to the site has offices here, translate, or write the ads grammatically correct on the language of the site they were put on.

If this is some method, and they didn't ask me for my CC info yet, and if they won't ask for some strange reason in some of the next ones, then I'm not getting it.

They surely wouldn't get through all this hassle just to put the info I give them and ear 2-3 bucks from some 2 page, or similar CPA... or would they
,and if they are planning on delivering me some bogus paper and key, they are putting themselves in higher risk of getting caught.... I don't know can that be worth it, since the delivery agency they "choose" has to be cooperating with them, or they have to be the delivery agency themselves.

Am I missing something here?
Is this some known trick?

bro are you stupid ? its a scam.

Scam.

Scam..

you will receive next email from *delivery company* and they will ask you to send money via western union

S.c.a.m

The "documents" are probably the claim information for your $16m lottery winnings to go with the house...

dude seriously...play along and see what happens next. of cos fake all your info.
this is going to be awesome! DO IT!


(if u're not comfortable hunting the hunter, then pm me the cl link)

I don't believe you're actually considering doing this. It's a total scam. They told you they're traveling in Africa because that's where the scammer is located.

Give em the name and address of a child molester from familywatchdog.us and your friend's phone number.

your full name.........
your home address........
your city of residence.........
your phone number.........
your postcode...............

When a BHW member falls for it, you know its a good scam lol.

What a sweet method

Follow through to make sure it's fake. Doesn't sound legit but there's always a chance.

I would say 99% it's a scam since they used the word Africa but it's weird they didn't ask for your bank info. They probably will by the 2nd conversation.

If I follow it through, my next reply should contain info for with the address. ...
If you were a couple that went from UK to Africa (the pics they sent me had quite a few antiques from around the world so that part kind of fits in, and they also have a small office in the centre of the interior so it could be a couple that travels and works from wherever they travel to) and want to send keys and those friggin documents (I know... I know..) what company would you use? UPS? It's usual for me not to pay in advance, right? They haven't mentioned the company or anything yet, so I could ask them if I can choose the company. If they say, no, and that they will....whatever the reason they come up with, then it's a obvious sign that, that company is a catch (and of course, if they ask money in advance.)
I'm not actually "falling" for it, but yeah, there's always that voice that says "what if". This is kind of chance for my mom, without going into details.
Perhaps I should search if the real estate company I goggled and sounds legit is really legit, and then ask them if they really have them as clients. That people I talked to gave me phone numbers of their real estate agent who has a website on which the name of the real estate company name is. That name, when goggled, returns quite a few RE sites of a company which has rich listings of everything a legit company has, it's located here, in Europe, where the ad was placed first and ... well few things (like the ads in two different cities) don't ad up, but also quite a few really do.
The ad was originally not on CL, but on a local ad site here where I am.
If it's a "method" it prolly can't be called a method, but a scam. If that is the case, I have no problem posting the site here (to get an opinion or two).
As you may have notice yourselves sometime, it's somewhat different when you are inside the story, rather then when you're observing the story from a distant perspective.

edit: you have to understand that if it wasn't something of such importance to someone I'm trying to help, and if I would be finding those kind of ads often, on daily, or monthly even basis, I'd probably just shrug to this and say: "Huh, 90 % possibility scam of whatever sort, don't even waste your energy on this, ....next!" But.... this is the best I found, and others that I find are once in 2 months, and since now, none was actually completely fitting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJx-uGRsiNU






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruidM0nfUdc&feature=related

Oh dude seriously?!?!

**Didn't read** =D

ForeverNever said:

Follow through to make sure it's fake. Doesn't sound legit but there's always a chance.

I would say 99% it's a scam since they used the word Africa but it's weird they didn't ask for your bank info. They probably will by the 2nd conversation.

Click to expand...

Its a 100% Scam... The moment you see AFRICA you should know it

can i have the keys to your mums apt. when u move out lol , oh and a flight as im not in the us .

Op I mean this in the nicest possible way, your desperation is exactly what these scammers prey on, in times of difficulty you will believe things to be true that are 100% not. You've got to use some common sense here, there is no way anybody in there right mind would let strangers into their house without meeting them or have a legally binding contract, it opens the doors to all sorts of problems, squatters rights being one of them. Next point, if they're as well travelled as they say they are, then do you not think they would plan this well in advance? Rr at the very least let a management company deal with it for them. I could go on forever about the flaws in this plan, and remember they don't need more than just personal info to achieve what they want, no need for bank acc no.s or anything else, do your research, you'll see what I mean. I know you're trying to do the best possible thing in your situation but think with your head and not your heart this has got scam written all over it. I wish you and your mom the best of luck and I hope you find something, but please don't go blindly into something, think clearly and make the right decisions.