In my hometown paper
http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2d15dc78-bb16-11e0-9b21-001cc4c002e0.html
Meg Lyon scammed the scammer.
A friend asked her to check out "a really good deal" of a rental listing posted online, but Lyon sussed out a swindle. And she fought back with increasingly more absurd requests of the supposed property owner.
"I'm so sorry to delay the payment still further, but my roommate just now inherited a pet tiger from his deceased uncle," Lyon wrote in an email. "The tiger is very tame and house-trained, but we understand if you would feel uncomfortable allowing a tiger into the house."
The response? "All right well no problem if the tiger is fully trained, but just absolute care of the house for me." Oh, and send the money.
Lyon pressed on: "Thank you so much, he's such a sweetheart and so well behaved. His name is Simba. ... What are your policies regarding harboring immigrants?"
Answer? "Alright."
Lyon was effusive in her gratitude: "That's great, thank you! Without the immigrants, I wouldn't be able to grow as much marijuana as I do. ... I am also working on a startup for coca - how big is the basement?"
Tigers? Illegals? Mary Jane? Cocaine? "Alright no problem but absolute care of the house, and yes, the Basement is 540 sq feet."
At that point, Lyon claims to seal the deal, in her own entrepreneurial way. She also ups the ante on the activities she'll host at the house: "Alright. I sent the deposit in. However, it's mostly in credits for reduced-price cocaine. ... Is there wood flooring or carpeting? I'm a local orgy manager, and sex can be so hard to clean out of the carpet. Let me know so I can decide whether or not I have to keep my gigantic rubber floor coverlet."
"Hardwood flooring, and do you mean you sent the security deposit or what?" Send a scan of the receipt.
Lyon sent something even better: A handwritten replica.
"I wish I could scan you the receipt like I did the application, but the tiger ate the scanner. However, I made you a replica of the receipt. ... As you can see, I paid you the money you were due, and more, plus cocaine. Charlie Sheen/Charlie Sheen's corpse may be in the same box as the cocaine because he refused to come out."
She didn't hear back after that last note. Her friends, who followed the exchange through the screenshots Lyon posted on Facebook (available - and hilarious - with this story online), howled at the developments.
She told her mom, Penny Lyon, about the scam, and her mom found other problematic online ads of supposed rentals in Missoula. Meg Lyon might have some surprises in store for those matchstick men and women, too.
"I've got half a mind to go find the other scammers my mom found and message them," Lyon said.
Re: Hilarious!