Possible web site scam. Please help

Some days ago I booked a London holiday apartment through the web site http://www.bayswater-apartments.co.uk He replied telling me that he requires 35% deposit to confirm the apartment. He sent bank details (IBAN No, Account No, Account holder residence and bank name) and told me to send money by bank draft. I sent the money some days ago, and today, I have checked the website and it does not exist anymore.
I have googled and found his adver on this site http://property.vivastreet.co.uk/holida ... d/19676517 I have asked a friend to contact him (using another e-mail) telling him that I require to book but cannot access site. He replied back and told me to login to http://www.bayswater-apartment.co.uk (Notice that it is not the same as original web site). I have checked whois and these seem to be both registered to the same person. Can you help please?

Both sites are registered to someone called "John Doe" .... not the most reassuring name for a start.

The first (now dead site) was registered on 5th November 2009 and the second site, 28th November 2009.

There is a "ACCOMODATION PROPERTY MANAGEMENT LTD" using the same Company Number as on the website listed at Companies House

Name & Registered Office:

19 VICTORIA TERRACE
HOVE
EAST SUSSEX
BN3 2WB
Company No. 06816003

Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 11/02/2009

That address is used by the following:-

AK & Co Accountancy Services Ltd
19 Victoria Terrace, Hove BN3 2WB, United Kingdom
01273 329603?

Myself and co-workers may add further details later.

Welcome to Scamwarners by pellj001.

I note you have sent a bank draft some days ago.

I suggest you contact your bank ASAP and ask them to advise you of your options whilst we investigate further.

Will you please post further details/information - mail address used - mails.

Please do not post any of your personal details.

Also any further questions or concerns.

We will help you all we can.

Thanks for your reply and help. Below find a copy of the first e-mail received. I have hidden my e-mail address. I have other e-mails should I post them as well?

"
From: BAYSWATER HOLIDAY APARTMENTS [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Removed date, it can be used to narrow down the recipient - Ralph
To: xxxxxxx
Subject: Self Catering Apartment for Holidaymakers in Bayswater, London


Dear Sir/Ma,

Thank you for your enquiry and for your interest in our Oasis Resort, Bayswater
London.

Pleased to advise that our apartment is available for the period requested, being
7 nights from your requested dates.

The lease rate for 7 nights would be £350.

This will include a complimentary breakfast 'welcome pack' that will contain the
following items:
Croissants - Coffee - Tea - Milk - Sugar - Bread - Butter - Cheese - Breakfast
Cereals - Orange Juice.

All prices are in Pounds Sterling; rentals are inclusive of maid service once a week.

Price includes final cleaning, linen and towels, gas and electricity.

All bills inclusive, no others fees or taxes.

Check-in after 2.00 pm - check out before 4.30 pm or by different arrangement (We
are flexible).

To book the apartment 35% of the rent rate has to be in advance by bank transfer,
the rest 65% cash at arrival or by bank transfer 5 days prior date of arrival.
Security deposit: £200 to be paid at the time of booking.

The rate for the 7 nights is £350

35% deposit of the rent rate which is £122

Refundable Security deposit is £200

Total deposit required to secure the booking is £322.

To proceed with the booking of the apartment, complete the Apartment booking Form
And request for our Bank Details.

If you have any questions or require additional information, please let us know.
In the meantime,
please take a look at our Owners Website where many more Apartment Pictures can
be viewed or to chat with a live person for more informations.

NB: Always check your Spam message, when expecting emails reply from us.

With kind regards

Richard Moore
BAYSWATER APARTMENTS, LONDON
Owners Website: http://www.bayswater-apartments.co.uk
>
> Here's your message:
>
> Hi we will be coming from 30th dec to 6th jan. Is this available? we
> are 4 adults and 2 small children.
>
> -------------------------
>
> Click here to report a spam email:
> http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/help.pl?f=1&s=19 [1]
>
> Click here to report a dodgy reply:
> http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/help.pl?f=1&s=2 [2]
>
> To view your ad, click here [3]
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/help.pl?f=1&s=19
> [2] http://www.gumtree.com/cgi-bin/help.pl?f=1&s=2
> [3] http://www.gumtree.com/london/97/48676797.html
>
>

Terms and conditions on their website - this seems very odd.

Should you arrive in London by aeroplane or train, we strongly advise that you book with us a black London taxi. They will have the keys to the property, meet you at the airport and take you straight to the property in comfort.

A taxi driver entrusted with keys to a property?

What if you were delayed?

This exact wording was used here on their now closed website.

Terms and Conditions - london-cityapartments.com

Should you arrive in London by aeroplane or train, we strongly advise that you book with us a black London taxi. They will have the keys to the property, meet you at the airport and take you.....

See http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2508

I have also found the following anomaly:

Terms from web site http://www.bayswater-apartment.co.uk/#/terms/4536720395 are actually similar to web site http://www.homefromhome.co.uk/site/termsandconditions Domain for this web site is registered on a company since 2001. Therefore this should indicate that this web site is not fraudulent and that terms used in http://www.bayswater-apartment.co.uk were copied from there.

Also payment only via Bank Transfer or Money Transfer - does not allow use of credit card. I am not sure whether this is suspiscious, please confirm.

Bank address given is Halifax Bank, 36-37 King Street, London, W69HW. Actual post code is W69HB. Possible type? I have used google maps to get post code.

I have full bank details of this guy (IBAN no, sort code, account no etc.) as received by e-mail. Is it safe to copy here?

Payment only via Bank Transfer or Money Transfer is very suspicious - I would never consider using.

Yes please post - if the account is being used fraudulently it will be investigated and reported.

It would assist us greatly if the mail requesting the payment and the bank details were posted with headers.

This are the bank details as sent to me in the e-mail. How do I exactly give you the message header?

Sort code: 11-00-01
Account Name: T DRUGAN
Account Number: 07032248
Iban: GB31HLFX11000107032248
SWIFT BIC CODE: HLFXGB21F08
Bank: Halifax Bank
Beneficiary Address: 12 Victoria Street, London SW1W 9QD, United Kingdom
Bank address: 36-37 King Street, London, W6 9HW, United Kingdom

Richard Moore,

I have found also that testimonials may be copied from this site:

http://www.bonnyrigghall.co.uk/VisitorsBook

Different email providers have different ways of showing the full message, including the headers. If you are on yahoo you will find a link marked "full headers" at the bottom right of the email. If you click on that the headers will show up. On gmail you can click the down-arrow just to the right of "reply" at the top right of the message, then click on "show original."

If you have a different email provider let us know which one it is and someone can give you instructions.

hello, i almost made the same mistake, i was about to make the transfer payment, but found out that a person wrote someting on tripadvisor! it was strange for such a good apartment (According to the pictures) to be so cheap. how can i be sure that a website/company really exists and that the payment is safe?

Another dead giveaway for some would be the English--the name Richard Moore is clearly not African, but the email is filled with mistakes that are consistent with an African author (and some are clearly mistakes, not typographical errors). Here are just a few examples: more informations, others fees, Apartment Pictures (capitalization)

Neves, I'm glad that you realized this is a scam before you lost any money to it.

While WU and moneygram are stilled the preferred scammer collection method, lately there seems to have been an increase in the number of scammers using bank transfers. If I had to guess, I would say it is because they are losing victims as more people learn to question "businesses" requiring payment through those companies. With that said, however, I don't know about other countries, but as a frequent online shopper in the US, I have never encountered a legitimate company that uses bank transfer as an only means of payment collection. Any legitimate American business I have encountered accepts credit and/or debit cards, paypal (though there are plenty of scams that use paypal too), and/or check or money order.

There are several precautions you can take when shopping for apartments (or anything else) online. Here are a few suggestions (in no particular order):

Look at the website closely. Is it professional, and consistent with what you would expect from the service you are buying? Is the writing consistent with the claimed location? Is it recently registered? Registered for a short term? Hosted by a free website company? Is the registration information legitimate? Is the email address consistent with the website (for instance, do they use a free email address as the contact for a company claiming to be of significant size?). Is there a physical address and landline phone number? Does the number actually trace to a landline where the company claims to be? (Remember, if the number starts with 44-70, it is almost always going to be a scam)

Look at the pricing. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Is it consistent with other businesses offering the same item or service? When 20 different companies offer something for $100 and you encounter one that claims to have the exact same thing for only $50, you might want to seriously consider whether it is legitimate.

If this is a business, you should be able to verify it has a valid registration with the country it is operating in.

Google is your friend. Search for the company name, address, phone numbers, and even unique statements on the website or in their correspondence with you. If the website contains testimonials, search for them (they are often copied from legitimate sites). Search for the photos they are using on tineye--although only a small portion of the photos online has been indexed by tineye, you may find the same photos being used inconsistently which is a dead giveaway.

Look at the payment requirements and methods. Do they use a money transfer company like WU or moneygram for their payments? If so, steer clear. Do they use bank transfer and offer no other options? Do they try to rush you to payment without giving you the opportunity to ask questions or check things out yourself? These are red flags that say "more investigation is required".

And, of course, if you are unsure, you can always ask here, either on the site or by sending a pm to one of our support staff.

Unfortunately the payment was already received, and I am not so that sure I can get the money back.
So can you say for sure that this is scam. If this is so can this person be traceable with the bank account number?

This is the message header if the mail that requested payment

"
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MIME-Version: 1.0

X-Mailer: Webmail

Message-ID: <[email protected]>

To: "xxx" <[email protected]>

Reply-To: BAYSWATER HOLIDAY APARTMENTS <[email protected]>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

X-Origin: 212.183.140.52

Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:54:00 +0100

Subject: RE: Self Catering Apartment for Holidaymakers in Bayswater, London / Booking Ref: 1076323238

From: BAYSWATER HOLIDAY APARTMENTS <[email protected]>

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

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Return-Path: [email protected]

So can you say for sure that this is scam.

All of the evidence (and there is plenty of it) unfortunately points squarely to scam. I also just checked out the website, in addition to the points mentinoned above, the contact phone number listed is a flextel redirect number--which is yet another major indicator of a scammer.

If this is so can this person be traceable with the bank account number?

Unfortunately, in our experience, the scammer is rarely caught through the bank account number. The bank account very likely doesn't even belong to the scammer--bank accounts used in these scams are often shared by several scammers, or belong to innocent (or not-so-innocent) mules--people whose only role in the scam is to receive money and forward it to the scammer via WU or moneygram. Unfortunately, many mules don't realize they are part of a scam--they have answered a phony job offer, and believe they are collecting and forwarding local payments for an international company as part of their legitimate employment. Often tracking the bank account will lead as far as the mule, but not the actual scammer.

In spite of this, reporting the bank account is the best thing to do, as the information can be used to pursue closure of the bank account, monitoring of activity, or even warning of an unknowing participant of the scam. And eliminating a mule will have a negative impact on the scammer, and will make his activities more difficult.

hello again, and what about this site (http://www.londonshortlettingapartments ... outUs.aspx), can anyone give me some feedback about the security of this company? i've already called the guy (suresh his name) and talked with him by telephone, it seems legal and safe, but now i dont know what to think anymore!!