I dodged a bullet this week.
I thought I found the perfect place to land in Costa Rica. A fellow reached out to me as a result of the message I sent out on CR FB sites, telling me he had the perfect place in a prime location: Escalante, near San Jose. Two bedrooms, close to bus lines, just seven minutes away from a local feria (farmer’s market) that runs once a week and fifteen minutes from a massive one in San Jose that runs twice a week.
I asked him to send photos, and I asked for six references from former clients
Got the pix; they looked good (if a little grainy).
The referrals came back glowing.
And he only wanted $300 to hold the reservation (half of a full month’s rent) until September, when I plan to arrive.
That sounded reasonable. I asked if he could send better pix of the place, as the ones he had sent earlier weren’t crytal clear and were taken at night (the exterior shot). He said he would be happy to do that. But first let’s get the details nailed down.
When it came time to send the money …
he said he was acting in stead for his dad, to whom he had talked, and his dad wanted the full $600 down to hold the place, in case I decided not to rent it and they had to look for another buyer in September. I said okay.
He sent me his contact info and address. Pointed me to XOOM.COM. which is CRs version of Paypal.
I typed in the info, hit send.
Got an almost immediate resposnse from XOOM.COM:
Transaction declined. Additional info needed.
I got in touch with an agent at XOOM. He asked me if I knew the individual to whom I wanted to send the money. I said, not really. I explained that his dad owns a rental that I want to rent and they want an earnest deposit to hold the place until Sept.
The agent said, “I’m sorry, but I cannot complete this transaction for you.” I asked if he could tell me why. He said he couldn’t — confidentiality laws and all that — but it’s never a good idea to send money to people I don’t already know. I said, “That pretty much tells me everything I need to know, without you divulging anything more. Thank you very much for protecting me.”
He said, “You’re welcome.”
I got back to the “seller/renter” and told him what happened.
I told him he’d have to take it up with Xoom as to why they would not complete the transaction as they weren’t allowed to because of confidentiality rules. He said he would call them right away and get back to me.
His first call to them didn’t fix anything at his end so he said he’d call them again in the morning.
Well, needless to say, by the time he got back to me yesterday morning I had decided to take XOOM’s advice and not send money to anybody in advance for future services rendered. I told him that; he sent me a thumbs up and that was the last I heard of him.
The guy was amenable, said he’d even pick me up at the airport, deliver me to my rental and drive me around to show me the lay of the land around it. He sounded like an angel.
I have no absolute proof that he’s scamming people or I’d tell you his name. But Xoom refused to transfer the money to him. That’s enough reason to learn my lesson and only deal with people I actually know in Costa Rica.
Since then, I have been contacted by several people willing to offer insights who have no potential skin in the game. They aren’t renting, selling, or in any other way vested in scamming people. They’re just good-hearted people with my best interests at heart. And they’re in areas I’m interested in moving to. All very cool.
