Got scammed and lost a lot of money...

Hi

We just want to say to watch out with VERENA GOLLOB for Amsterdam aswell- we just almost got scammed aswell.

she put an ad up this morning 25-3-09 at +-9 a.m. CET for 2 rooms (craigslist) for 1000eur and though we're not at the stage of sending her money yet, thanks to you guys posting on this forum we know not to!

(tip: check the phone number she gives you. if it's 07024020353 - don't do it)

m&a


TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (YOU'LL NEVER GET THIS IN AMSTERDAM)!
- One Bedroom Semi Detached House
- One Living/Seating Room
- Kitchen with modern fittings
- Dish washer/Dryer
- Washing Machine
- Cable TV
- Wired Internet connection
- Back Private Garden and off street Parking space available
- Large Storage.The Monthly rent for the two rooms is 1000euro per month which Includes All Bills. Security
Deposit (bond) is 1000,will received along with the Rent on or before
Moving in.All Utility Bills have been Included in the Monthly Rent.I have attached some picture of the interior of my property
Hope to hear from you soon with a viewing to renting the property.So let me know if you and i can proceed now.
Regards,
Mobile:07024020353

Manuelau. Welcome to Scamwarners.

Search result on verena gollub;

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=opera&rls=en&hs=2xB&q=%22VERENA+GOLLOB+scam%22&btnG=Search

Thank you for posting, your information will save other potential victims falling for these scams.

Well done to you for searching and discovering the scam.

Hi Manuelau, Welcome to Scamwarners. I see the lovely Enchantress beat to the post by a minute.

It is always nice to hear that the site helped prevent somebody from being scammed. Good job in spotting it. You can also post up "her" email address if you have it.

Hello,

I was just about to send this rev ronny gollob almost $3000 as a 'security deposit' for an appartment I am looking for in Geneva. I emailed a friend who is living there to see if she could check it out and thankfully she alerted me saying this could very well be a scam...i then googled his name and thank goodness, all your posts came up!!

He sent me IDENTICAL emails to the ones posted above, I've pasted it below. I sent him a few other emails asking about how close the appartment was in proximity to where I would be working, and he said it was within walking distance - COMPLETE LIE - I googlemapped the coordinates myself and it would take over an hour to walk from point a to b. He also said, I would have to sign a contract, which I found out was also impossible since I would not have a work permit (I am only coming for 3 months) and I do not have a salary.

This man and his affliliates need to be stopped!!!

Here is the email he sent me, and the other ones that followed...thankfully he only got my name, address and phone number!

Thanks for your email and it is glad to read from you.I am Rev Ronny Gollob,the owner of the 2 bedroom Apartment you are making enquiry of at:34,ave.Champel 1206 Geneva,Switzerland..Actually I resided in the apartment with my wife before.Presently we had Moved out due to my transfer from my Missionary work now.I was transferred to England and presently my apartment is still available for rent for 600CHF per month including all bills like good Heaters, Iron and Iron Board, Hair Dryer, Vacuum Cleaner, Equipped Kitchen with Cooking and Eating Utensils, Oven, Microwave, Toaster, Coffee Maker, Kettle,fridge,broadband Internet, TV,Land line phone and Electricity..etcYou will make a security deposit of 2400CHF

More so now, I will be going for a Christian Missionary Mission in New Jersey and i will like you to get in touch with me for more details as soon as possible so that I can easily contact my lawyer for the legal document regarding the apartment before l travelled.Please I want you to note that I am a kind and honest man and also I spent alot on my property that i want to give to you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintainance of this Apartment and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken ? it is not the money that is the main problem but i want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i come for check up which i do once in a while and give 1month notice before i come for check up.I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word....
I have attached the few pics I have here for you to have an idea of the apartment...

Speacial Notice : Pls note that neither I nor my wife will be ready to show you the apatment in person without confirming your seriousness.This is due to my bad experience two months ago by meeting tenants without confirming their seriousness and readiness, it was later I realised that most of them have no money ready for the rent but to view the apartment because they love the apartment from the pics...I wasted my time and money,all these happened two months ago.Since then I have been advised by my lawyer not to meet any tenant without confirming his or her deposit payment and one months rent in advance.So I will have to confirm your security deposit via western union money transfer immediately after you must have signed the legal contract documents.Remember that the security deposit is not meant for me but to be kept by my lawyer and return back to you at the end of the contract when there is no damage done on my property.This is more reason why we must sign the legal contract documents before you make any payment.

I can as well POST YOU THE KEYS VIA:DHL COURRIER SERVICE ON A NEXT DELIVERY TO YOUR DOOR STEP as soon as I confirm the western union money transfer receipt of the security deposit payment from you to my lawyer.You can then move in at your own convenience.if you are ok with this pls email me back with the details below so as to forward it to my Lawyer for the legal contract documents which we will have to sign before you actually transfer the security deposit.

Name in Full..
Address...
Nationality...
Passport Id number...
Date of move in and out...
Phone number....
Sex..................Male or Female.

Thanks and God Bless You.
You can ring me on my mobile:+447024084977


EMAIL NUMBER TWO FROM RONNY GOLLOB - this time he sent his passport photo! and his subject line was - love your transparency!![img][img][img][img][img][img][/img][/img][/img][/img][/img][/img]

Hello ,
Thanks for the response..I am very much glad to read from you.Yes my apartment is about 0.11km[approximately 110m] away from Rue de Vermont 20, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland.Infact Rue de Vermont 20, 1202 Geneva is treakable from my apartment.I'm very familiar with that area and I promise to take you round so that you can know the route very well..ok..I assure you that you will surely enjoy your staying in my apartment as it is very close to public transport and parks.

Infact,you made my day because i have been looking for a serious and reliable tenant for long..Whao,i assure you that my apartment is reserved for you till any period.All I need is just to confirm your seriousness which I'm able to confirm from your mail.I must confess,I really love your transparency and honesty.

As I have stated in my previous mail,we will have to sign some legal documents before you make any transfer,it is this documents that will serve as guarantee for the safety and security of your payment and the contract..This documents will be prepared by my lawyer and forwarded to you via email immediately I have signed so that you can sign as well.As soon as you received them,you will print them out,then read them and sign them,then you make the payment via western union money transfer and attach the receipts of your payment to the fully signed documents and scan them back to me for confirmation and proper documentations by my Lawyer..ok..Once all these are done,I will be rest assure of reserving you my apartment.I will come over before your arrival to Geneva so that I can wait for your arrival at the airport.I will be glad if all these can be done today so that I can delete my posting and focus on you as my tenant.

One more thing,I would love to have a copy of your flight schedule as soon as it is ready so that I can know the actual time you will be arriving and for me to know when and where to pick you.

Provide the details below for the preparation of the contract documents:
Name in Full..
Address...
Nationality...
Passport Id number...
Date of move in and out...
Phone number....
Sex..................Male or Female.

For more identification,I have attached a copy of my passport to this mail for you to have a good idea of your landlord and also I would love to have yours so as to have an idea of my
lovely tenant.

Hope to read from you soon.
Regards.

EMAIL THREE

Hi
I very sorry for the wrong calculation.You were very much correct.I thought you were refering to Rue du Vidollet.Anyway,I will not send you any legal documents until you provide your details so that I can forward them to my lawyer for the documents.So if you really have interest in my apartment then do as I have instructed.

I think I have stated this in my previous mail that I would love to confirm your deposit payment before I can reserve you the apartment.But you will have to sign some legal documents with me before any transfer is made..ok

It is not even necessary you send the money to me directly,I mean if you feel uncomfortable transfering money to me,then there is an option which will which I think will make you more secured.If you have any friend/relative here in UK,you can make the
payment to him/her and just get back to me with the payment receipt for me to check it up that truly you have money ready and for my Lawyer to seal up the contract.So as soon as i
confirm the money is AVAILABLE FOR PICK UP,then i will email you to tell your friend to pick up the money then send it back to you..As you know very well that i cannot pick up the money,since it was not sent to me..Only the receiver identity is entitled to receive the money..All i wanted is the receipt so as to confirm that you have the money and you are not just there to waste my time.The receipt is also very important for proper documentation by my Attorney.
Immediately I confirm the fully signed documents with the receipt of your payment sent to your friend or relative over here in UK,I will book for my flight and come over within 24hours so as to wait for your arrival then handover you the keys as stated in the contract documents..ok..If you do not have friend or relative whom you can send the money.then you can send the money directly to my details.I assure you that nothing will happen to your money until the end of the contract when the payment will be returned to you in full if there is no damage on my property.I think you know that.Also you have to know that the security deposit is not meant for me but to be kept by my Attorney until the end of the contract when it will be refunded back to you in full.All these are well stated in the legal documents.
So provide the details below for the preparation of the contract documents:
Name in Full..
Address...
Nationality...
Passport Id number...
Date of move in and out...
Phone number....
Sex..................Male or Female.[img][img][img][/img][/img][/img]

wwsd Welcome to Scamwarners.

I am very happy you used good search techniques, discovered the evidence not were not scammed.

Your posting this information will also save others from becoming victims too.

Well Done and Thank You.

If you have any questions or concerns a Scamwarners adviser will be happy to help you.

Also we have a guide click here.

Hi wwsd, Welcome to scamwarners. Thanks for posting your information, it is always great to hear that we prevented one more person from getting scammed.

You might want to watch your credit report for a while to make sure there is no identity theft involved. Don't bother telling him that you know it is a scam. Just stop all communication with him.

This man and his affliliates need to be stopped!!!

Easier said than done. One of the downsides of the Internet, is that scammers can operate out of Nigerian Internet cafe and scam people thousands of miles away with impunity. Arrests are few and far between.

Hello everybody,

i'm a student from Hungary, and i was in contact with the same cheater(s). i wanted to find a flat in Athens, i found his ad on expatriates.com about a "lovly apartment" - now he used the name daniel dimarco, and the following e-mail address: [email protected] . He was even bargaining about the amount he wanted to steal, i can't believe!!!
i hope this post will help those who'll try to detect his name - it was only accidental that i googled the address. thank to you, i know how right it was not to send anything in advance.... and also hope that he will be caught soon...
once again thanks for sharing your stories to help others not to became victims!!!

Welcome to Scamwarners syringa.

Your post and information will alert others and save them from being scammed.

Thank You.

Note this site http://www.expatriates.com/html/apartmentseekerwarning.html

Scammers operate under many identities (most likely stolen from unsuspecting people). The following identities have been used in prior complaints.

Patel Pratik - Patel Banuphrasad - Marc Daniel Sinnott - Marc Daniel Defischer

Verena Gollob / Golob - Oana Diane - Daniel Dimarco - Sam Pepper - Samuel Adams

Also this scammer has used these mail addresses;

[email protected]

[email protected]

Hello!

I just wanted to add my experience with scammers in Amsterdam. I wanted to find a room in Amsterdam through expatriates.com. I found one that was to great to be normal So I chcecked the name of "landlord" on internet and this is how I get to your webpage and realise that I was almost scammed. Thanks God I am always soooo suspicious and thanks scamwarners.com as well

Here are som detail about scamer:
e-mail address: [email protected]
name: Patel Pratik
e-mail he sent me:
Hi,
Thanks for your reply and the interest you derived to rent my apartment, infact the apartment is still very much available for rent . It's fully furnished apartment that located in a centre heart of the city and its available now for rent both in short or long terms rent/lease, it located at warmoesstraat 16 1012 Amsterdam, situated at the second floor of the building, it is in a very nice environs and safe area to live, its just about 200m to its metrol station, restaurant and public transport all around and it's just 10mins to the supermarket, so it's situated in a lovely and lively area and peaceful at night the apartment spacious is about
160sqm and a room is about 32sqm2, each room has it's own private bathroom and toilet, it is well furnished spacious living room that has DVD,Cable TV,computer with free ADSL internet connection (broadband),landline phone with well equiped new kitchen with modern facilities such as dish washer,washing machine,refridgerator,microwave and oven, you 'll confirm these upon the view of my property and there is parking space for car in my apartment, if you have one ok.

However, i have attached the pictures of my apartment to this mail, so that you can have an idea of the apartment before we meet...So, a room cost 350euros per calender month while the whole apartment is 700euros and the security deposit payment is 900euros and it's refundable at the termination of the contract and the bills include all charges such as water, gas,heating, electricity and internet etc and there is no extral charges rate because i don't have agent, i'm the right owner's ok..Also it is possible for you to rent the apartment unfurnished, because i have a store room to keep my own furnitures and there is parking space for car in my apartment if you have one.

Few details about me, actually, i' m Patel Pratik, the owner of apartment address describle above but i'm presently in England due to the nature of my long term contract, so i'm now earning my living with my families here in UK and I also work as software developer in a reputable organisation here in England, i have married with a child.

Therefore, i'm now offering my exclusive two fully furnished bedrooms apartment for rent since my ex-tenant contract terms has been expired on 20th of June,2009, then he has returned the keys to the apartment for me, so the keys are here with me and i want to rent my lovely apartment to a response, reliable, trustworthy, clean and tidy tenant that would take very good care of my apartment as am away.

Also, there is a little problem to tackle now because i don't have someone in town presently that could show you my property before we meet ,even my lawyer is in scotland now for an official assignment, we do communicate via phone and email and i want you to have a view of my apartment so that you can confirm that the pictures i enclose in this mail is the true pictures of my apartment before we can finalized the contract,so i don't know how we can solve this issue, i even discussed it with my lawyer that it would be very uneasy thing for me to fly down and meet tenant that i haven't confirm his or her seriousness towards the rent of my apartment and he gave me some suggestion that i can post the keys to any tenant that i have confirm his or her signed contract documents and deposit payment receipt to him or come over to meet you in person in the front of the apartment, once we meet there we can finalized the contract and i will give you the keys, receipt and fully signed contract documents so that you can be able to move in at your own convenience.

So, i 'll like you to tell me the way you wish to receive the keys in order to view my property and finalized the contract...if you want the keys to be posted to you via courier express service(DHL), kindly let me know and get back to me with your details for the contract documents, then address you wish to receive the parcel or if you want me to come over on time and meet you in person in the premises, let me know so that i can make an appointment with you then immedaitely i confirm your signed contract documnets and deposit payment receipt to my lawyer, i 'll book for my flight and get back to you with my flight details so that you can know the exact time to meet on our appointment day ok.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS IN RENTING MY APARTMENT
1.Tenant's agreed that the deposit payment replaced any caused damaged of my property.
2.The parties agreed that tenant's has to pay a month rent with
security deposit payment to landlord before moving in to the apartment to show good signs of seriousness and committment
to rent the apartment
3.Tenant's agreed to take very good care of the apartment.
4.Tenant agreed not to turn premises to public business.
5.Pet allowed.
6. You're allowed to register with my apartment address.

Therefore, if you agree with the above mentioned TERMS and CONDITIONS that guilde the renting of my apartment, i 'll be very glad to rent you my apartment and get the keys to the apartment and legal contract documents to you on time, so that you can be able to move in at your own convenience.

If you are serious and ready to rent the apartment now, kindly get back to me with your details such as it's stated below so that i can forward it to my lawyer to prepare your legal contract documents that would be signed by both of us and my lawyer also will sign and stamp seal the contract.

Here are the details you have to provide:
FULL NAME;
GENDER;
CURRENT ADDRESS;
DATE OF BIRTH;
PASSPORT ID NUMBER;
NATIONALITY ID NUMBER;
MOVE IN DATE:
MOVE OUT DATE:
TELEPHONE NUMBER:

I 'll be expecting your details for the contract documents as soon as possible...And please don't forget to extend my best regards to your family..

Hope to read from you soonest.
Best regards,

I also think there is is other scamer operating in Amsterdam, maybe we can check it together:
his e-mail: [email protected]
his name: faishel yorks
The flat that he advertised at expatriates.com seems just unnormally "perfect" too

M.

Hi Mika

Welcome to Scamwarners

We have been looking into this for you in particular that email address at the bottom of your post [email protected]

We are finding a lot of scam related hits but not that definately tie in with that email address.

Could you please post an email from him and or a header with your own details removed

We can give you instructions on getting a header if you need it, we will however need to know which email providor you are using so we can give you specific advice

Hi!

The email I received from [email protected] has this content:

Hello,
How are you doing and ? here are the
following details about my apartment..The 2 bedroom apartment well
equipped ,furnished and
with internet wireless and communications access,the equipment such as
electronics,cooker,drier,anger ,refrigerator,chairs,gas
cooker,internet, windows and washing machine,dryer

The rent of a room per month including the
Bills and utility Cost is 400euro and a security Deposit of
400euro,The monthly rent for the whole apartment is 800euro and a
security deposit of 400euro which is refundable if you do not damage
any of my properties in my Flat, while your stay there.because if you
do make any damages the money of the damages will be deducted from the
security deposit while the rest will be refund back to you and if you
do not make any damages then the whole amount of the money will be
refunded back to you.,the purpose of the deposit is just for security reason

The apartment is located at Leidsekade 12, 1017 PN Amsterdam in the
city center: located at the Leidseplein, nearby Vondel Park and easily
accessible by public transport.Amsterdam’s most popular bars,
restaurants, clubs and shopping streets are right on your doorstep.
The famous Rijksmuseum, van Gogh Museum and the beautiful Vondel Park
are within walking distance. Public transport and canal cruises are
next door.the main museums, cinemas, Theaters, bars, restaurants and
major shopping areas.The Van Gogh museum, Rijksmuseum, PC Hoofdstraat
and the Vondelpark are all just a short stroll away. The Holland
Casino and Hard Rock Café are also just a stone’s throw away.

I sent all the information's including the pictures to you so you can
have the idea of what i have for rent because i work and also am here
on my internship in Edinburgh and i want to rent the apartment because
no one is in the apartment now so i need someone who is ready to take
care of the apartment for me.then if you are okay with the pictures
then you ll have to make the commitment for the apartment because lot
of students don't have the money to pay for the rent but they insist i
come to show them the apartment but when i get there they told me
another thing but i don't want this to happen again this is why i
decide to shot the pictures of the apartment so i can send it to
whoever want to rent the apartment from me.so if you think you can
make the commitment then an willing to rent it out to the person who
is going to make the commitment.

There was no signature or name added:)

To be honest, I really do not know what the "HEADER" is ... Not very good in technical devices:)
So could you give me some help with it ... I have e-mail on gmail.com.

Mika

I header is sent with every email, it contains a lot of information that you wouldn't normaly be concerned with. One piece of information it contained is where the email was sent from, with that in most cases we will know the approximate location of the scammer.

For Gmail, open the email you want the header from
towards the top right corner of the email, right next to reply you will see a down facing triangle
click on it
A drop down menu will come up
from the menu choose
Show original
The header will open in a new window,

This is what we are interetsed in.

You could paste the header into this site http://headertool.apelord.com/ and the header will have the IP extracted and located

I will stress, it is not 100% accurate but in most cases, the originating location of the email will be the bottom location

Let us know how you go

I did notice, however, that the scammer uses a gmail address as well. Unfortunately gmail strips the IP address, a fact which more and more scammers have noticed and are taking advantage of.

Hi,

I did everything as you advised, but it didnt work out propely. Maybe there is some problem with gmai.com cos the sender of the e-mail has also gmail.com and then I was not able to get the country of origin from the IP address...

I am adding Header with my details erased:

Delivered-To: [email protected]
Received: by 10.204.63.68 with SMTP id a4cs89327bki;
Sun, 5 Jul 2009 03:58:45 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Received: by 10.223.119.207 with SMTP id a15mr1543774far.11.1246791524687;
Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:58:44 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>
Date: Sun, 5 Jul 2009 03:58:43 -0700
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: 800 euros/month - 2BR - 2 bedrooms apartment well furnished
From: faishel yorks <[email protected]>
To: "....." <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

BUT thank you very much for this advice. I already checked Headers of other "landlords" who sent me offers for rooms anf apartments to rent and their IP addresses were MOSTLY FROM NIGERIA....


I just wanted to make sure: Are these scamers able to somehow destroy your computer safety, get to your personal data or data from your computer, when you only have e-mail communication with them and you dont give them your personal data except your e-mail address? I started to be worried about my safety when I realised that I am e-mailing with lots of "criminals" ...

Mika