Man who is posing as Xiaohan Yang of Knoxville/Oak Ridge, Tn.
Complaint 130892 Details

My family is in the process of relocating to Knoxville, Tn. for a job that my husband is to start on July 25th. Because we have no choice, we have been having to look for a home to rent, sight unseen over the internet and came across a house that would be perfect for two adults and 4 growing teenagers. I have used Craigslist for many things and have never had a problem with it even though I am aware of the scams that are possible. I contacted the email address [email protected] and received a reply the same day with details on the house, rental requirements, and application. The person told me via email that he and his family were God fearing, Christian people who had been called to the mission field and were currently located in West Africa. They had originally hired a realtor to serve as the agent handling the sale of their home but decided to rent because the agent was inflating the cost and he was looking for a family that was interested in long term rental as he would be out of the country for 3-5 years and did not want to have to repeat this process over and over again. He told that he was working with the UN on a mission crusade/mercy relief project. I filled out the rental application which looked like any other I have ever filled out and returned it to him. The next day I received another email saying that he had forwarded our information to his lawyer and that his family and his lawyer were in agreement that we would be suitable to rent his home. He also told me that because we were willing to accept a long term lease that he would come down $100 on the rent and pay the first 6 months of utilities while we got established in Knoxville. We were thrilled and being Christian people ourselves believed that this was an answer to our prayers as we have been financially devastated by the economy and increasing cost of living here in Texas. I am disabled and my husband is the sole breadwinner, it has taken us 2 years to save and protect our little nest egg that would pay for our move when the time came to do it. That is how we became victims of this person because we so desperately needed that break. Anyway, over the course of the last two weeks we have been corresponding by email and telephone. West Africa time zone is 6 hours ahead of us and he would call at 10:30pm Central time which means it was 4:30am there and I thought how thoughtful that was of him to get up that early in the morning so that we could talk. I mean would someone who was trying to scam you get up at 4:30am just to facilitate a business relationship? Before we made the decision to send him any money, which was $750 (the deposit) that he was asking for in exchange for the keys, I googled his name. What came up was that he had been employed as an Environmental Scientist for the National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tn. so that put him in the area. Next, I looked up the property address which is 324 Peterson Rd. Knoxville, Tn. where he is in fact listed as the owner and for some dumb reason that was good enough for me so I discussed it with my husband and we agreed that we could work with this man. I insisted that before any money changed hands we needed some sort of guarantee that he was for real and he said he would have his lawyer contact us and he did or so we thought and told us that he was in Ithaca, NY and that Mr. Yang was a person of the highest morals and could be trusted because after all he was called to West Africa to do the Lord's work and that if we had the faith we claim to have then we would just have to trust him. Instead when he called that night my husband answered and told him that on good faith we could not send more than half of the deposit ($375) in exchange for the key and that the minute the key turned the lock and we were secure then we would go the same hour and wire him the rest of the money and he agreed. Again, would someone trying to scam you accept less money? Although I knew he was in West Africa because the number he called from was an international number (#011-234-8162596394), I did not know he was in Nigeria until we got to the Western Union. That was my first twinge of doubt and I should have went with my gut but so much time had been invested leading to this moment and I sent the money and went home to begin the waiting game. That night he called and after hearing that I had sent the money he informed to be watching for an email with the Fed-Ex tracking number which arrived the next morning. I checked the tracking number and sure enough it confirmed that the package with the keys and documents to the house were about to be shipped and I was so relieved. Five hours later I received another email stating that there was a new development and that after further discussion with his attorney that he now needed the remainder of the deposit plus two months worth of rent for a total of $2075 and that a hold had been placed on the Fed-Ex shipment until he did. We talked about it and decided that we couldn't/wouldn't do it and so when he called wanting to know if the money had been sent, I told him that we weren't comfortable doing that and he hung up on me. The next morning which was yesterday morning (6/29) he emailed me and said that he had gotten disconnected and was still waiting on the money. I told him that we were no longer interested in doing any business with him and that if he was the man of God that he portrays to be that he would send our money back. Haven't heard a word. So after two weeks of wasted time, money and energy needless to say, my mood has been horrible and as we are now starting over from scratch with only 20 days to have everything set in place. Just on a fluke I googled his name again and went through the list of his credentials and came across a Knoxville number that I did not see when I looked him up before so I call that number and lo and behold the real Mr. Yang answers the phone. He is the owner of that house and he is currently residing in Knoxville, not West Africa. I informed him of what had happened and after sending him all the documentation he contacted the KPD and filed a report and then directed me to this website. NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER SEND MONEY TO NIGERIA, IT IS 100% OF THE TIME A SCAM AND I LEARNED THE HARD WAY.