OK maybe I'm being overly suspicious but...

[Ad Orientem]

So I am looking to relocate in the near future and was looking online for rentals. I found one that was priced really low but no address. So I emailed and asked for the location thinking it would be a bad neighborhood. This was what just showed up in my email.

Hello,Tenant.

Thanks for your swift response back to us.i personally own the house,i want my

property to be well taken good care of, we decided to rent out the property due

to our transfer to(NEW YORK)on a missionary work by my church.so,we are

renting it out since we need someone to take good care of the property on our

absent.dont be surprised if you find the home with another site and different

prices,i planned to rent it out through real estate agent before,but due to they

are not serious because they have a lot of houses to lease out and they added

some money to the rent while their commission is not fair.i decided to lease it

out myself,the keys and documents are with us here in NEW YORK...because we

dont trust the estate agent.so,i will need to send my brother to bring them to you

before you can occupy the house but you can drive by the house anytime to take

a look at the area and surrounding .you can also peek through the windows if

you don't mind.i will send my brother to bring down the keys and document to

you if you can send the security deposit in order for us to see your interest in the

house before i send my brother down to the house to bring the keys and

document.include your number in order for me to call you.HERE IS MY NUMBER

TO CALL US
xxx-xxx-xxxx

What do you think? Should I send them the deposit?

[l82start]

yikes....    nope suspicion justified... proceed with caution.

[WiseOne]

Pass.

This looks like one of those emails from Nigeria.  Also, I would NOT under any circumstances hand over a deposit without you and the landlord signing a lease.

[l82start]

  I would NOT under any circumstances hand over a deposit without you and the landlord signing a lease.

  exactly never hand over more than the 30 or so bucks required for looking up your rental history/credit check...

[Ad Orientem]

lol  I left our the s/ tags on my should I send them the money line. But yea I thought this was one of the more amusing fishing scams that show up in my email periodically.

[dualstow]

Hah. My ex is a realtor and sees that message all the time.

[Pointedstick]

Yeah, I see these scams all the time when I'm looking for rentals. They always take the form of really nice places at far below-market rates. Just for fun, I actually corresponded with one of those guys for a few emails just to see how obvious it would eventually become. You'd have to be a true moron to go all the way and actually send them anything!