We’ve been getting a few emails about a new kind of rental scam where they try to lure you into giving over your credit card and personal information to a “free credit score” site. One was from Reader Benjamin, who was looking for a house to rent when he and his wife stumbled across a too good to be true deal, a fully-furnished 3-bedroom house in Maryland for only $1200. Seeing as they had nothing to lose, they emailed the lister, just to see what would happen.

“I got a very prompt response from a guy who said he had just ‘suffered a divorce’ and was returning to Cambridge, England and wanted someone who would take good care of his house. The poor grammar and several typos made us more convinced it was a scam, but we sent him another message asking if we could do a walkthrough, to test him,” writes Benjamin.

Then he got an email back from a woman this time who said she would set up a walkthrough and no background check or application fee was required, the only requirement was that they had to have a credit score over 500. Oh, and here’s a link for a free credit score site.

“Just print out the first three pages and bring it to the walkthrough,” wrote the woman. ” You have to get your credit score through that site; I want serious customers only, not window shoppers.”

Having avoided what was probably a phishing scam where they steal your credit card and your identity, Benjamin and his wife are looking for other houses now.

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