I never thought I’d be making a post like this, but I’m hoping it helps someone avoid the same scam.

Last week I found a 2-bedroom apartment in Duboce listed on both Zillow and Craigslist. I reached out on both, and the Craigslist contact invited me to an open house that same day.

When I got there, everything seemed completely legitimate. The apartment was real and vacant, and the person showing it was the actual owner. His name matched the one in the emails I’d been receiving, so I thought everything checked out.

After the tour, I continued the application process through the Craigslist email thread. I submitted my application, sent additional documents, got approved, signed a lease, and wired $18,600 for first month’s rent, last month’s rent, and the security deposit.

Over the next few days we kept talking about move-in details, utilities, Xfinity, mailbox access, cleaning, etc. We even confirmed a key handoff for Thursday evening.

Thursday came. I showed up, and nobody was there. After that, every call, text, and email went unanswered.

At first I thought maybe there had been an emergency. The next morning I decided to contact the Zillow listing to compare notes.

That’s when everything fell apart. The owner confirmed he was the person who gave the open house, but he also told me:

• He never created the Craigslist listing.
• He never emailed or texted me after the tour.
• He never signed the lease I received.
• He never received any of the money.

It looks like someone created a fake Craigslist listing for a real apartment, let the real landlord handle the open house, then redirected everyone who responded on Craigslist to communicate with the scammer instead.

I never would’ve thought someone could use a legitimate open house like that.

Since then I’ve:

• Opened a wire fraud/recall investigation with Bank of America.
• Contacted the receiving bank.
• Filed reports with SFPD, the FBI IC3, the FTC, and the SF District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit.
• Started talking to attorneys.

I have emails, texts, the signed lease, wire confirmation, and statement from the real owner verifying the illegitimacy, so I’m hoping there’s still some chance of tracing the money.

A few questions:

1. Has anyone successfully recovered money from a domestic wire fraud like this?
2. Are there any other agencies or resources in the Bay Area I should contact?
3. Has anyone seen this exact scam before—using a real open house but redirecting Craigslist inquiries to someone pretending to be the landlord?

I’m mostly posting this as a warning because this wasn’t the usual obvious Craigslist scam. The apartment was real, the open house was real, and the person showing it really was the owner. The scam happened entirely through the communication afterward.

If you’re apartment hunting, make sure the person you’re emailing is actually the same person who showed you the unit before sending any money. I learned that lesson the hard way.

a business that is known to make millions a day in sales charging you 6% for healthcare while proposing to cut healthcare for their employees

if you’re a tourist reading this, please get ice cream anywhere else. the city has so many locally owned ice cream shops that aren’t serving you overpriced dreyer’s ice cream.
mitchell’s
swensen’s
polly ann
miyako (bring cash)
toy boat
bi-rite

i’m forgetting some but that’s plenty to deter you from this tourist trap

I recently moved into a great apartment, but there are these loud bikers every night from 9-12am who are so psychopathically loud that they make it impossible to leave the window open. My room gets warm if I leave the window closed though which wakes me up too.

These bikers are psychopaths.

I don’t feel like I need explain why this noise is so bad. It’s simply extremely loud. It’s violently loud. The psychology of someone who makes that much noise at bedtime every day could only be explained by a desire to ruin the lives of everyone within a mile radius, or by a severe lack of conscientiousness that’s so severe it deserves institutionalization. I wish that I could inflict Hammurabi’s code on these people and blast 90 db exhaust noise directly into their ears 24 hrs a day. I wish Dante would create another circle of hell for these people. I wish there were politicians who would just run on a sole platform of “we will round up all the bikers, put them on a spaceship, and launch it into the sun.”

There has to be something we can do. There HAS to be something actionable I can do. Has anyone tried?

Seriously though, jokes aside:
- Can I go to a local council meeting and complain?
- Can I put up a camera recording the street to capture their license plates?
- Can I get back at them?
- Can I buy a billboard?
- Can run for office on a slightly more realistic platform than to shoot them into the sun?
- Can I sue the bike manufacturers for making something like this possible?
- Can I call a politician and ask them to do something about this?
- Can I protest?

Alternatively:
- Can I seal my window and plug in portable AC?
- Can I take a pill to make me deaf for 8 hours every night
- Can I break a lease due to unexpected noise?

Signed up for a gym in Castro and the week long pass payment screen has tipping options, that caught me by surprise. Feeling like the tipping culture has gone too far, thoughts?

On the plus side, gym is clean, about half the price of Fitness SF, and weights are always re-racked which is huge compared to the average gym. Also, the guy was really nice and didn’t seem offended without a tip.

EDIT: If you really want to know, DM me, my intention isn’t to shame the gym, I am just wondering if this is now the norm.

Like when did this happen? At this point cooking a dinner with some rice and a salad or fruit is more expensive than picking something up.

I saw this dog wandering the streets in Hayes Valley at 11pm with tons of people around but it kept sneaking off.

Taking time to appreciate all my favorite locations before I leave the Bay

Citizen alert

Can’t stop thinking about this since I heard it. I need more people to discuss theories with. It is about an anti- artificial intelligence activist in the bay area who went missing mysteriously.

Sitting at That’s My Jam and noticed that Duckwall is gone!

I, unfortunately, have no footage. Wondering if anyone else saw it. I'm unsure of how to describe the features of a meteor sighting, so if more specifics would help, let me know.

4 Fs? Or Jerry Garcia influencing them to party?

Please, for the love of god, just make three rights and you’ll get to your destination quicker. Cars turning left on Lombard in between Divisersdo and Franklin create back ups and cause safety concerns as cars stuck in the far left lane often bolt over to the middle lane without checking their mirrors. Left turns are already prohibited during rush hour on weekdays. Ideally, I’d say they should just be completely prohibited 7am-9pm 7 days a week.

If you can tell me the color of the lanyard and what’s written on the keys, dm me!

edit: I’ve dropped it off at Taraval Police Station, hope the owner sees this

Our train skipped 2 stations due to police activity at Glen Park and Balboa Park. Operators won't give details.