Rental Scam

Hello, I was advised to come here from 419eater.

I've recently been the recipient of a scammer. I know he's a scammer as I reported him to the police and the police got back to me and told me they've already had complaints about this guy from someone else who got scammed.

His name is "ted scott" [email protected]. I wasn't able to find a googlehit for this guy but I suppose it could be a new alias, his "lawyer" is [email protected].

He is emailing people from the gumtree website (in newcastle for definate but I don't know if he's been using anywhere else) with an offer of a flat thats too good to be true, with pics that are from many different catalogues. But his mobile number is blocked from some mobile providers, and he wants a deposit and rent for the flat sent through WESTERN UNION before viewing the flat or meeting him. He also asked for my ID (didn't know how this would benefit the scammer).

I just wanted to put this here so other people could maybe be warned.

x

Hi Mgunk,

Welcome, thanks for posting those details, if you dont mind, could you please post one / some of the emails you recieved including that phone number.

Remove your own details of course, we dont need those.

You would be amazed at what we can find by doing searches on small sections of their script.

Now that the email address has been posted here is will be picked up by searches within a few days.

This is the first one I got. It has pics too but not 100% how to stick them on here.

Hello,
I really appreciate your interest in my apartment. here is the address:
39, 8th Ave Newcastle Upon Tyne UK. and the bills:
500pound per month including bill and
350pounds for refundable security deposit which will be returned after
the stay if nothing is damaged.you can reach me on 07045753638.
THANKS

And one from a few days ago:

Hello,

how are you doing and how has been your day been. Thanks for the reply. well i understand you, i know its the nomal thing to sign agreement before the payment. you will have to send your details to me with your address where you reside, and a scaned document of either your passport, drivers licence or any means of identification.not that i cant come to meet you but the distance that i will have to travel down *HE CLAIMS TO WORK IN EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, BUT I TRIED TO CATCH HIM OUT BY SAYING I COULD MEET HIM THERE HOWEVER HE DIDN'T RESPOND TO THOSE* there to meet you and the nature of my job. and talking of the western union you can deduct the charges from your first month rent.

but before then send your details so we can proceed. and i am very sorry for the inconvienience its the nature of my job. hope to hear from you soon.

thanks

And heres the source:

X-Message-Info: JGTYoYF78jEHjJx36Oi8+Z3TmmkSEdPt3Mi6GgUSv7yYKHQgGfDe+2wCW4LegkYQav29Pp7Mm4E=
Received: from n66.bullet.mail.sp1.yahoo.com ([98.136.44.50]) by bay0-mc10-f12.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.2668);
Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:39:59 -0700
Received: from [216.252.122.217] by n66.bullet.mail.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 21 Jun 2008 10:39:58 -0000
Received: from [69.147.65.166] by t2.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 21 Jun 2008 10:39:58 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp501.mail.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 21 Jun 2008 10:39:58 -0000
X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-5
X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: [email protected]
Received: (qmail 13922 invoked by uid 60001); 21 Jun 2008 10:39:58 -0000
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
s=s1024; d=yahoo.com;
h=Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Reply-To:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Message-ID;
b=Gz2lHkZXmnwtDfvhPew74P7a6wnUG/BMcZa+LSbkwDvs08DxNVuzRynbpQZU9zj1rhbHe8P4341+f0w5+HlNfxiSCNo21JNYMyGdks2fxIol3NjqoHkoUvSHyH++ibamym4ZwKKz8Ni41AcOJdvBB0yXQ7yuuLycekkfuth7q2I=;
Received: from [204.16.127.114] by web46106.mail.sp1.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:39:58 PDT
X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.19

I've already been told that the IP is a satellite one that is generally used for W.Africa.

I still have all the emails back and forth saved, bot unfortunately haven't managed to wangle anything out of him to catch him out, or get anything personal that the police could use, even the bank details.

x[/b]

^^^ thanks for that, I dont have much time right now but I have done some searches and so far found nothing, these are the cases it is most important to post publicly so thank you

Welcome mgunk, and thanks for coming along

The first thing that stands out is the 0704 number. It looks like a UK number but can be redirected to another phone anywhere in the world.

There are several reasons why scammers ask for IDs, one is to make them sound more convincing by wanting to know who they're dealing with, and another is so they can get an ID and recycle it to use themselves i.e. change his scamming name to pretend to be you and send your ID to others to convince them that he's real.

Well... it seems he's now got a different alias.

Jackson Brown [email protected]

I got a slightly better written email (but am assuming that just means he's taking more care over them now) offering a different flat, equally as improbable.

Thank you for the reply. My Property is located on:
Dean Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE1 3JA
It is a 2 Lovely Bedroom House lovely and spacious. It is located in a
good and nice
neighborhood very quite and friendly. It is close to the Train Station, Shops,
Well Furnished with Microwave,Fridge, Washing Machine, Dryer,
TV and DVD player, a moderate Storage double glazed
The cost of my Property is 500Pounds Per Month and the Security
Deposit is 600Pounds
The Utility bills have been included in the Monthly rent and also the
Council Tax.
I have attached a few pictures of my house to this email, I hope youwould love it andwill be renting it soon.Regards,Jackson

Again he's not put spaces in the money bit, is including bills, and undercharging for the area. I left the spaces and new lines as they were in the email.

x

Hi mgunk.

Your scammer is 99.999% certain to be out in Africa.

The first address he gave you was:

39, 8th Ave Newcastle Upon Tyne UK.

He didn't realise that he's written that in US format. The UK doesn't have block systems and streets like that. The second is a different address because he's realised the mistake and changed it to the proper UK format.

I have tried quite a few searches and come up with nothing, it seems this scammer changes email address often also changes the property he has for rent.

Finnaly, I got a hit on my search.

I searched on his IP address 98.136.44.50, and got This Result

Thanks again for posting those details, you may well save somebody from losing money to this scam.

Just reading what Chris said, often those who are smart enough to spot mistakes like the one pointed out by Chris, will reply to the scammer and tell them why they dont believe them, of course pointing out these mistakes to scammers will inadvertantly teach them to be better scammers, they will simply adjust their script and be more believable next time.

I also agree with Chris on the origin of the scam, African scammers have a certain writing style that can easily be spotted by those dealing with them as we do

ChrisSmith, unfortunately Newcastle does have that type of address. It's in an area called Heaton and they go from 1st avenue to 8th or 9th. But the strange thing is that the addresses he's giving actually exist!!! I walked past the 8th Avenue one when I went to view another flat in the area.

I just hope people look at the photo's he's emailing and see that theres no way they are from the same place.

Any ideas how I can warn people?

And thanks for the advice people!

xx

Any ideas how I can warn people?

Unfortunately, there is little more you can do than what you have already done by posting it here.

As warners we are able to gather information on scams using a few more advanced techniques, many of which can be learnt at our sister site www.419eater.com with lots of patience and even more practice.

Realistically, besides what you have done already,

Tell your family and friends about what is going on, spread the word about scams and tell others about our site

Tell you local police, they will be able to do little about it, but it will demonstrate to the authorities how big a problem this is.

Ring a local radio station and discuss your experience on air.

Lastly, reading up on our forums about the various scams out there may help you to identify and prevent somebody you know from falling victim.

Every little bit helps but stopping these scams completely seems a very long way off

Thanks Ralph. I did contact the local police and they said they can't do anything as I didn't fall for it, but someone else did and they are trying to follow it up. He didn't seem too enthused when i told him the IP led to a foreign country, but I suppose thats cuz theres nothing they can do then.

If any more alias's come up I'll post them here.

x

Thanks Mgunk,

I am glad we were able to help.

Also, thanks for keeping us updated on the new aliases, that does prevent some people from being scammed so well done

ChrisSmith, unfortunately Newcastle does have that type of address.

Jeez!!! I live in the UK and I never knew that!!!

Thanks for putting me straight.

ChrisSmith, no worries, I didn't know either till I went to Newcastle to explore and found those streets, was very confused I have to say.

I have a room advertised for rent and I got hit with two emails immediately - When I checked out the header, it went to this ISP which I googled easily, the first website it came up with was http://www.projecthoneypot.org/i_14c1bb ... b97417079b and it told me a lot about server 98.136.44.41 Here follows the message: (obvious rip off)

Hi Bob,
Thanks for your email.hope you are doing great? am interested, but am not around now,I really need to secure a place for myself before my arrival.I don't care if its furnished or unfurnished i can take care of that while am around.the amount of rent/month is fine with me. my trip to US is scheduled for Oct 21,would you be able to reserve the place for me?.Below are just some few things you might want to know about me:
am straight,easy going and pretty laid back 28yrs old female....i do not smoke nor drink,am a christian but am not fanatical about my religion as i have always learn to respect others religion/belief.Sometimes i love going to the beach at my leisure time to observe the wonders of nature,i work for an investment company here in west Africa(NIGERIA) and coming to US cos the company i work for here is looking to open business correspondence in the US,this is my first visit to US and i do really hope to find a good place like yours to live in,if you can reserve the place for me i will surely appreciate that,i know there are several people interested in renting the place from you so am willing to make arrangement for some sort of deposit even with the first month rent so that will show commitment from my part,

And just for you to know that this trip will be sponsored by my employer and every expenses as regards the rent and utilities will be paid in full so you have nothing to worry about as to whether i will be able to pay rent or not,pls be aware that my trip to US is fast approaching and i will appreciate if you get back to me asap to know how we can work things out..
Thanks
Lizzy