Been there. Done that.

tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60763-i5-k2020924…

Sorry you were scammed, but some research on your part on this web site (you found this web site to post here) would have told you that renting an apartment in NYC is a horrible idea. Still is, will be next month, next year.

Though I am curious how you are going to recover losses from someone who may be in Lagos, Nigeria, Oslo, Norway, Bismark, North Dakota or anywhere else on this 25,000 mile circumference orb we call earth.

It happened also to us: we lost 500 USD in the same way! Any information on this issue is very welcome.

Sounds like this is the beginning of a whole new scam. Be careful!!!! don't send this poster any money to recover your lost funds from the Lucas Bailey scam.

Be very cautious, this poster is new with only 5 posts!!!

Look at the original poster's posting history here. There seems to be a real pattern emerging.

Seems a strange pattern too. In the early topics seems to have been defending the idea of apartment renting and saying not all are scams. All the previous posts were on this topic.

Also, the constant mentions of N*w Y*rk H*b*t*t.

You guys have too much time on your hands.

I'm close friends with one of the victims of the Lucas Bailey scam. A group of those victims have banded together to share information, so I made this post as a way to possibly make contact other victims who haven't joined the group. There's certainly no request for money involved. By all means, do not send any money. Anyone who has been victimized should feel free to contact me. I will put you in touch with other victims who have found that the ability to share information has helped in their efforts to recover their money.

About recovering money: there are several options including disputes through PayPal and disputes through one's credit card or financial institution. There are also cases pending with the NY DA's office and the FBI's internet crime division. Part of the purpose of the initial post was to give other victims information about these cases if they want to get involved.

With respect to my posting history, it's not too difficult to understand. I don't visit TripAdvisor regularly. In fact, the first time I've looked at the discussion forums is when I heard that one of the victims of this scam had made a post and was receiving extremely rude responses.

I'm a resident of New York, and I felt that many of these responses were unduly harsh. So, I posted to express my view -- that not every holiday apartment listing is fraudulent, that there are some legitimate agencies (one in particular that I've used in the past and have had a good experience with, hence my recommendation of it), and that in the larger scheme of things, the real culprits are those who rent illegitimate apartments, not the unknowing tourists who may rent them.

Sometime later, I heard from one of the victims of the scam that they were having trouble keeping posts up that might alert new victims. (The posts don't show up on the first pages of a Google search once they're old, and posts are being flagged and removed from Craigslist.) So, I decided to put up a post on TripAdvisor.

Hope that clears things up.

So, where do we send the money???

You guys have too much time on your hands.

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No, what we do do is take time to research things.

Which is what people should do especially when sending money to a total stranger.

the real culprits are those who rent illegitimate apartments, not the unknowing tourists who may rent them

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I disagree. The people who rent this apartments are not all innocent victims. As posts on this message board shows, there are those who do this knowingling and willingly even after they are told not to do it. Their greed gets in the way of common sense.