March 2014
"David Bence" still sending out emails under that name wanting to use the timeshare we  had advertised on craigslist for his honeymoon. Never mind that he first asked about availability for a week in May for this honeymoon and our week was in July.

From David Bence davidbence2@gmail.com
"Hello Sir/Ma
          Am David. Please let me know if there is a place for a week
7night available from {MAY 10 THRU MAY 17}or any other date available
at your rental.. I want you to email me if available with total
costfor the whole a week 7night. Am coming there with my wife and i We
are coming for honeymoon. No smoke, No drink, No  pets. Don't hesitate
to email me with your total cost for the whole 1 week.Thanks

I email back (before I discover this site)  and repeat the information in the ad - the week and the price. He responds:

Hello....Thanks for your prompt reply, I have discussed this with my
wife and we have agreed to use your place  .As for the cost we are
alright with it ok.Me and my wife have plan to make arrangement with
our sectary to send you a check for the total amount of the
reservation as soon as you have penned these dates down for us.We are
coming to the place for our honeymoon ok.This check will be send to
you via USPS or Fedex courier service and to file the agreement form
for the rental here is our full details to fill the application form

My name..David Bence
My wife's name..Rose Bence
Our address..3150 Tunnel Hill Rd
Seven Valleys PA 17360

Kindly provide your full information,Full Name to be on the
check.....Home or office address to receive check, Zip code together
with your currently phone number {No PO BOX Pls.I want a physical
address}...So the payment will be made and sent to you as soon  as i
get all this information for the payment ok...Waiting to hear from you
Asap. Thanks and God bless you,

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thinking this  first contact of his sounded more than a bit suspicious, I googled the address he gave for him and his "wife" Rose (if he's already got a wife, why does he need my timeshare for a honeymoon in May - or July if that was when my week was)? His address was a real address - for a Christian camp/convention organization. Since he ended his email with "God Bless," I gave him the benefit of the doubt -- until I googled "David Bence" and found this site.

I know there are a lot of night owls, but I've had other suspicious sounding emails - one from someone offering to buy the timeshare - until I asked too many questions - and those emails and this one were sent around 3:30 a.m. -most likely it's daytime where the emails originated.
Anyway, thanks to all from me, too, for warning people of this scammer.

He didn't provide a phone number, so I asked for one in my email with subject line of  "Address to send the check to." If I ever get a reply, I'll tell him to wire me the rental amount via Western Union!

Thanks so much to all who posted!! I just got an email from David Bence that looked exactly like the ones you posted. Unfortunately I didn't see this thread until after I sent him a reply. Thankfully I had given a bogus address because I was a little worried. What a horrible thing!! I would have fallen victim if not for your posts :)

As of April 23, 2013 David Bence and his wife Lexie responded to my Craigslist post also with the honeymoon vacation stay.
Below is his reply. Besides the bad English/grammar, the entire context sent a red flag to me. Upon a goolgle serach, I found this site. Kudos to all for posting.

Hello....Thanks for your prompt reply, I have discussed this with my
wife and we have agreed to use your place  .As for the cost we are
alright with it ok.Me and my wife have plan to make arrangement with
our sectary to send you a  check for the total amount of the
reservation as soon as you have penned these dates down for us.Me and
my wife are coming to the place for our honeymoon ok.This check will
be send to you via UPS or Fedex courier service and to file the
agreement form for the rental here is our full details to fill the
application form

My name..David Bence
My wife's name..Lexie Bence
Our address..3150 Tunnel Hill Rd
Seven Valleys PA 17360

Kindly provide your full information,Full Name to be on the
check.....Home or office address to receive check, Zip code together
with your currently phone number {No PO BOX Pls.I want a physical
address}...So the payment will be made and sent to you as soon  as i
get all this information for the payment ok...Waiting to hear from you
Asap. Thanks and God bless you

He just contacted us as well for our time share.

David Bence is still at it....has been responding with as of today - looking to rent my property for his (and Lexie's honeymoon!) - but my spidey senses were going so I googled him....and found this site - THANK YOU everyone for banding together to warn others of this type of fraud that is occurring.

Wow....I too almost fell victim to this, but thought it was too good to be true.  Plus the grammar and sentence structure seemed odd.  And then realized the email address kept changing.  Bottom line "David and Lexie Bence"are at it again....

****************************************************************************************

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: david bence <bence2323@gmail.com>
To:
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2012 10:14 AM
Subject: Re: $xxxx / 2br/2.5ba - Townhome in xxx ***Date: 2012-12-22, 7:12AM EST Reply to this post Reply to: xxx@hous.craigslist.org

Hello,Is this apartment/house available for 6months rental or a year?
Email me with the cost now thanks

****************************************************************************************

I replied with price and restated minimum lease is 1 year, even though I thought their questions were odd because the subject included everything they were asking, as did the body of the craigslist ad.

****************************************************************************************


----- Forwarded Message -----
From: david bence <davidbence40@gmail.com>
To:
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2012 7:57 AM
Subject: Re: $xxxx / 2br/2.5ba - Townhome in xxx *** Date: 2012-12-22, 7:12AM EST Reply to this post Reply to: xxx.craigslist.org

Hello....Thanks for your prompt reply, I have discussed this with my
wife and we have agreed to rent the apartment/house for the period of
a year and we have planed to move in to the apartment/house by
{February 1st 2013}.As for the cost we are alright with it.

Me and my wife have planed to send you a cashier check for the total
amount of the apartment/house..We are relocating to the
apartment/house.I hope the apartment/house is in good condition? We
want the apartment to be well cleaned.This check will be send to you
via UPS or FedEx courier service..Here is our full details to fill the
application form

My name..David Bence
My wife's name..Lexie Bence
Our address..72 W. Louther st. apt.
2 Carlisle ,Pennsylvania 17013

We suppose to give you our phone number to contact us but we have been
disconnected on phone because of our relocating we are already parking
our loads.. so until we move in to the new apartment/house before we
can reconnect again please bear with us..


Kindly provide your Full Name..Home or office address to receive the
cashier check, your currently phone number.So the payment will be made
and sent to you as soon  as i get all this information for the payment
ok...Waiting to hear from you Asap. Thanks and God bless you

its ring me multiple time but i didn't get any response yet.

You people are fool..If i can catch up with you i will destroy you

Here is a similar email chain from "David Bence / David Panagos" responding to my Craigslist vacation rental ad. The name David Panagos matched up with the tax records on the mailing address he provided, but could easily be stolen info:

1. Hello
      Is there a week 7night available from {FEBRUARY 16TH THRU
FEBRUARY 23TH} or you can list all availability dates for me and the
total cost for a whole 1 week

(I replied with total cost)

2. Hello....Thanks for your prompt reply, I have discussed this with my
wife and we have agreed to use your place for our honeymoon .As for
the cost we are alright with it.Me and my wife have plan to make
arrangement with our sectary to send you a cashier check for the total
amount of the reservation as soon as you have penned these dates down
for us.Me and my wife are coming to the place for our honeymoon.This
check will be send to you via UPS or Fedex courier service and to file
the agreement form for the reservation here is our full details to
fill the form

My name..David Panagos
My wife's name..Lorraine Panagos
14 Sportsman Terrace
Rotonda West,FL 33947

Kindly provide your full information,Full Name to be on the
check.....Home or office address to receive check, Zip code together
with your currently phone number {No PO BOX Pls.I want a physical
address}...So the payment will be made and sent to you as soon  as i
get all this information for the payment ok...Waiting to hear from you
Asap. Thanks and God bless you

(I told him to process the payment through Airbnb. Probably won't hear back. I would guess this is the scam where they send you too much money and ask for the balance to be returned.)

Wow! I am so glad I googled the Dennis and Helena Cole!!  I thought something sounded fishy with the way the email was worded.  I also have a vacation rental property listed on it on Craigslist.  I received the identical 1st and 2nd email as this user did from Dennis Cole.  When I asked for specific dates that he would like to rent so I could put them forth in a contract, I have not heard back from him.  Thanks so much for posting everyone.

"Dennis Cole" is still at it!  These are the four emails that I received today from his today, from  denniscole.inc@gmail.com :

1.
Can you check us in at your place???  check in time Dec16 and check
out time Dec 23. we don't have pets. await your response

2.
Okay that is good then..Thanks for your prompt response.I have
discussed this with my Wife
about this and we have agreed to use your place and as for the cost,
we are alright with it.. My wife's employers will be the one
responsible for all our our vacation expenses as a wedding gift and
they have promised to send you a certified check as soon as you have
penned these dates down for us. Kindly email me your full
name,physical address, home and cell phone number so that the payment
can be mailed out to you soon.Waiting to read from you.Have a great
week ahead.
Regards

3.
i will call you as soon as the payment is issued because am presently on
Sea now due to the nature of my job.. am a marine engineer. but i
promise to call you as soon as am back. Kindly email me your full
name,physical address, home and cell phone number so that the payment
can be mailed out to you soon and pending the time of our
arrival..Waiting to read from you.Have a great week ahead.
Regards
Dennis Cole and my wife is Helena Cole
2622 Monroe  West Memphis AR 72303
+1-206-376-1535
regards

4.
you can reach us here +1-206-376-1535.. but send us your's she will
get back to you as soon as the payment is issue to you.that is not a
problem Okay.  we look forward reading back from you the details where
the payment should be send too.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The phone number that he provides is merely a voice mailbox.
The property address he gives is a real property, but who knows if he lives there!
In fact, from his phraseology, I would guess that he is from West Africa, or else English is his second language.

looks like this number is part of a "craigs list" scam

Please take the time to read this post.  I have included links to back my assertions up, and this information may save you a lot of grief.  I hope you will all find it helpful.

This is a variation of a common "work at home" check processing scam.  Either the funds they send you are no good and will eventually bounce, or they are stolen funds that they are going to funnel through you.  In either case, at some point in the process you will be asked to disburse some or all of the money to someone else.  They have a million stories, many of them credible sounding.  (Oops, my slightly confused elderly mother sent you the money for the airfare as well, please send it back, send it to the travel agent, you name it - they have all sorts of tales to tell.)

BTW - Never, ever, for any reason, disburse money on behalf of a third party.  Not only are these types of scams being used to rip you off, they are also being used sometimes to funnel money to terrorists.  If you unwittingly send money to a front for such a group you could have some serious consequences to face, including charges related to money laundering and/or aiding terrorists.  While you probably will not be charged, you can run up a lot of legal bills and go through some very unpleasant experiences while you prove you are a victim, not a criminal.

Please take a look at:
<http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpeak/Nigerian/check_processing_scam.htm>

Also, from the FBI ( <http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm> ):

RENTAL AND REAL ESTATE SCAMS

03/12/10?Individuals need to be cautious when posting rental properties and real estate on-line. The IC3 continues to receive numerous complaints from individuals who have fallen victim to scams involving rentals of apartments and houses, as well as postings of real estate online.

Rental scams occur when the victim has rental property advertised and is contacted by an interested party. Once the rental price is agreed-upon, the scammer forwards a check for the deposit on the rental property to the victim. The check is to cover housing expenses and is, either written in excess of the amount required, with the scammer asking for the remainder to be remitted back, or the check is written for the correct amount, but the scammer backs out of the rental agreement and asks for a refund. Since the banks do not usually place a hold on the funds, the victim has immediate access to them and believes the check has cleared. In the end, the check is found to be counterfeit and the victim is held responsible by the bank for all losses.

Another type of scam involves real estate that is posted via classified advertisement websites. The scammer duplicates postings from legitimate real estate websites and reposts these ads, after altering them. Often, the scammers use the broker?s real name to create a fake e-mail, which gives the fraud more legitimacy. When the victim sends an e-mail through the classified advertisement website inquiring about the home, they receive a response from someone claiming to be the owner. The ?owner? claims he and his wife are currently on missionary work in a foreign country. Therefore, he needs someone to rent their home while they are away. If the victim is interested in renting the home, they are asked to send money to the owner in the foreign country.

We received a request from Kendra Sosa for a ten night stay at our vacation rental on the Sunshine Coast for their honeymoon. The spelling and language usage was that of a person whose 1st language appears to not be english.  They informed me that they would be sending a check through a courier to pay for the rental and stated that it was the husband's employer paying for the honeymoon as a wedding gift.  A few days later, they emailed us again to tell us that a mistake had been made by their employer, and that the check included their traveling expenses as well.  They sounded very sincere and expressed that they hoped they could trust us to send them back their money. After a period of 2 weeks, and without a check arriving, I contacted them via email, and advised them to cancel the first check and request that the employer reissue 2 separate checks so this issue could be resolved.  I have not heard back from them.  The two telephone numbers they left are not legitimate.

Got the same email request from a Terry Pack, trying to rent my timeshare for his honeymoon. The email came from this address: terry pack <larryrandy321@gmail.com>, I requested an upfront payment before proceeding with any reservation request, I'm waiting for his reply.

Paula I received an email about a vacation rental posted on
Craigslist with this same phone number using a name of Terry
Pack. Scam?

I received an email from Terry Pack concerning a vaction rental I
advertised on Craigslist and he stated him and his wife are on a
honeymoon and wanted to use our vacation spot and that the money
would be sent by his wifes company as a certified check and their
mobile # was 206-376-1535 and email address is terrypack10@gmail.com
IS THIS A SCAM?

Called from Craigs list ad requesting a 7 day stay for honeymoon gave the name Terry pack! Stated sent money for reservation however the third party paying( a relative included there food and travel expenses in it and could we take our reservation amount and return difference western union.gave the above number as a mobile number.

Gave the name Dennis Cole, tried to make a reservation at our luxury property (came from Craig's List) under the story of requesting a place for honeymoon. I called the number and it said to fax then to leave any message. His emails he did not sign and had typos like someone with a brain impairment.

Received same message in response to Craigslist ad.  Same name, same number.

Scam indeed.

Response to a vacation rental on craigslist to use for a honeymoon . Gave the name Dennis Cole with the phone number. This popped up when looking up the number. Is it a scam.

Response to a vacation rental on craigslist to use for a honeymoon . Gave the name Rosemary Buckingham with the phone number. This popped up when looking up the number. Is it a scam.

paula:
did you get this phone number from a "craigs list" response?