Is this a Online scam ?

Its a scam, when someone is renting a house and has to move away, they will usually hand the property to a property manager that can show it and collect the rent.

If the rent is to good to be true, then it is.

Very high probability that it is. It fits the profile of "send us money we'll send you more" type of scam.

I'd suggest that you do two things if you are looking to rent a house in Africa, or anywhere. First download Web Of Trust (WOT). It is an add on for Firefox, Explorer and Chrome; and a booklet for Opera and Safari. What it does is let you know a site's "reputation" during a Google search, or as you visit a web site. This reputation is based on Trustworthiness, Vendor reliability, privacy (virus, malware, etc.) and child safety. A very useful tool and costs nothing.

Second, do a Google search on "African house rental". This will list several sites that you can look at to find reputable dealers. It will even list a site describing a scam.

There are plenty of scams out there. But there are plenty of reputable places to find housing as well. You just need to look carefully to avoid the scams.

its definiltey a scam, I'm surprised you only got one email like this, when I was looking for a new place I had 4 different people tell me they were working in Africa. If you were really moving abroad wouldnt you either rent out the house before you left or get an estate agent to handle the rental, or even a friend? Who in the world would ever just send keys to their house to someone they didnt know?

The scammers steal pictures from other real estate sites. Check your local land registry to see who actually owns the property, it usually costs a small fee to do so. and dont ever send money to anyone before you see the place, even legit places can look great in photos then are dumps when you see it in person

Total Scam Chances are they Pulled the House Info Off another Site.

The whole Africa thing is a stupid way to get your sympathy. It's obviously a scam. Anything asking you for money without some sort of contract/terms and conditions or something that proves that they're a legit company just wants to gain a quick buck from gullable people.

If you think of a few bad apples ruining the whole barrel, then it must be said that any transaction with an African component should be avoided. I happen to know many decent respectable Nigerians and Kenyans, but the fact remains that many African countries are very poor and some people will resort to dishonesty to get out of their situation of poverty.

If you landed in Nigeria and the customs officer found a package of weed in your luggage, he would most likely let you pass in exchange for $US100 - corruption

Desperation on the part of many and corruption on the part of most - you'd be amazed at the sh*t that goes down here. But to be honest, even if it was any other continent it would still be pretty obvious that it's a bunch of bull. So yes, it's an online scam.

Most likely it is a scam. Don't rent by mail is my suggestion.

I am sure this is scam. i have receive so many time such time of mails. Just ignore this mail.

Thanks.

Its a scam. What the hell are you doing? WAKE UP.