London Accommodation - cityoflondonhomes

Unfortunately it seems that I've being scamed. I also ask for information of an appartment in London through gumtree page, made a bank transfer of 350pounds and, from that moment I didn't get any response, nor by email not by telephone. This are the data :
London Apartment Homes <[email protected]>
Our Kings Suites - Bayswater is available for the 1 week you requested.
The rate is £450. - All bills inclusive
We requested for 30% deposit from the rent rate which is £135 plus the £200 refundable security deposit.
Total deposit required is £335 to secure the booking.
You can view our Kings Suites - Bayswater Apartment on this link below.
http://www.london-selfcateringhomes.com/kings_suites
Best regards
Raphel Ridgeon
website: www.london-selfcateringhomes.com

By any chance do someone knows a "real appartment to rent in London"?. After losing my money with this... I am escared and I do need to find something for the week of September 5th!!

Hi Really and welcome to Scamwarners

I am sorry to hear you have lost money to these scammers, you are by no means the first to do so.

The additional information may help to prevent others from being scammed so thank you.

The websites you posted are more than likely fake, I will pass them onto some site killers to be investigated, meanwhile, if you could get us the header for the emails you received it will be a huge help to the investigations, you can post the header here or email / PM one of our support team members who are online and we can pass the information on.

If you are unsure of how to find a header please let us know which email providor you use and we can give you specific instructions

As to your question about us finding a legitimate place for you to stay, I am sorry but the only assistance we can give is to advise if any of the offers you refer to us appear to be scams.

If you have any questions or if any of the other places you are dealing with have you worried please dont hesitate to ask

Hi Raplh, Thank you very much for your promt response. I feel completely silly be cause I was so ingenious!!... Unless I'll try to prevent others to do the same!!. I do not know what are you asking me "The header", for me is the email addresss? London Apartment Homes <[email protected]> , I'll ask to a friend of mine if he can help me because I do not know which email providor I have (it's a company email I do not have a private one...)

Hi!!

Could you please help me to check if this adv. is OK?. I have talked to them on the phone: 44 207 370 56 63 (mikel) and everyting seems legal, but after my previous I'll better confirm!!. I have asked him if a friend of mine could go to see the apartment and he told me yes, (the problem is that I have not that friend in London...it was just to assure me)

Sent: 28 July 2009 08:43
To: [email protected]
Subject: From Site

Good morning Lola
We do have availability in 1 bedroom apartments in West Brompton at £96.50 per night, a larger 1 bedroom apartment in Chelsea at £115.00 per night or a 2 bedroom apartment in Chelsea at £120.00 per night.
All are serviced and fully fitted.
Travel from each is good and they are all well placed for seeing London.
I’ve attached a couple of information sheets.
A transfer by car from Gatwick in £94.00 or from Victoria (where the Gatwick express gets in) is £25.00.
Please get back to me if you have any further questions or when you have decided which of the above you would like to reserve.
Kind regards
Victoria
http://www.bromptonhouse.org/apartments.html

****************************************************************
The small print and why it’s important to read this note.

Brompton House is operated by Mercervy Group who are a Professional Landlord company you will be confident to use again. We guarantee that all our apartments and suites are as advertised or your money will be refunded. In the current economic climate not all accommodation offered for rent is administered by a Professional Landlord. Renting from a non qualified individual or casual landlord is inadvisable because of the possibility of indifference to legal requirements, failure to provide adequate insurance or supply accurate information which may compromise quality of service and safety.

Mercervy Group is registered in England number 06400289. We are members of the Residential Landlords Association - number: 52118/C and Tenants Deposit Scheme - ref: 20144216. Our Bankers are HSBC Bank PLC, Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ who provide secure and separate client accounts for deposits and payments. All information is kept in accordance with Data Protection rules. Professional Landlords Insurance is secured with Norwich Union (Aviva) Policy Number 24668725 CPO. Our apartments and suites comply with U.K. Health and Safety Legislation. If you have any questions please call us on +44 (0) 20 7193 1148 or +44 (0) 7836 241 201

I am reluctant to say that anything is legitimate but from a quick look over that information, there is nothing screaming out scam.

If you need to pay anything by western union then that will be a huge alarm bell


If you read through the other pages in this thread you should get a much better idea of the warning signs.

I would recommend letting the others take a look as well but I dont see any signs of scam there myself

Mercervy only seems to be a couple of years old, and I can't find them in the London phone directory. But like Ralph, I can't see any obvious scam signs.
I'd say go ahead as long as you can pay by credit card. A business like that should certainly take them.
Even genuine businesses fail, and paying by credit card is always a useful safeguard when making any payments of a few hundred pounds.

[AlanJones]

Like Ralph, I would be reluctant to say anything is legitimate, I will make a few comments though.

The telephone number given 44 207 is a landline number in London.

Mercervy Ltd are a legitimate limited company, who were incorporated in 2007.

What is not certain though is whether Brompton House and the website are really associated with Mercervy Ltd or whether it is a scammer using the company's name.

Thank you all of you!!!. I really appreciate it. Regards.

@Really

Thanks to one of our greeat site killers the fake site you reported has now been closed.

Thanks to your identifying and reporting the fake site and some great work by a site killer, scammers will no longer be able to use that site for scamming people

Well done to all involved

In return for the help that i got from looking at this, i shall introduce some more scam sites that I have ran into in my search for apartments in london.

1) the newest cityoflondonhomes site is now called city mall rentals (http://www.citymallrentals.com/). The person that contacts you is now:
Simon Wilkinson
Tel: +44 (0) 7519569598
Fax: +44 208 181 6081
and they claim to be under a company called "London Choice®"

2) another site that is a great hoax (but with really wonderful pricing) is http://www.homelettingcity.com/

The photos of Venice are nice but not relevant to a website purporting to be offering flats in London for rent.

The wording on the home page is copied exactly from this unconnected website, even down to the company name.

http://www.londonchoice.com/about_us.asp

The terms and conditions are a 'mish mash', probably cut and pasted from various sources and it includes various unconnected company names, as well as managing to mispell its own name.

citymallrentals.com = [ 216.180.241.51 ]

(Asked whois.dotcomgenie.com:43 about citymallrentals.com)

Registration Service Provided By: PROFESSIONAL WEBMASTERS
Contact: 234.18195473
Domain Name: CITYMALLRENTALS.COM
Registrant:
ray
raymond [email protected]

26 Akowonjo Rd. Egbeda
Lagos
Lagos 234
NG
Tel. 080.37138600
Creation Date: 18-Aug-2009
Expiration Date: 18-Aug-2010
Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.mgsdomains.com
ns1.mgsdomains.com
Administrative Contact:
ray
raymond [email protected]

26 Akowonjo Rd. Egbeda
Lagos
Lagos 234
NG
Tel. 080.37138600
Technical Contact:
ray
raymond [email protected]

26 Akowonjo Rd. Egbeda
Lagos
Lagos 234
NG
Tel. 080.37138600
Billing Contact:
ray
raymond [email protected]

26 Akowonjo Rd. Egbeda
Lagos
Lagos 234
NG
Tel. 080.37138600

I feel the need to book a flat (only to be undertaken by experienced baiters who are certified evil ).

I don't like scammers.

Posting up these sites is very helpful and gives others a chance to avoid being scammed.

The company claims this as their office

5 Maddox Street, London

Actually, that's a Boutique Hotel

http://www.no5maddoxst.com/

The phone number is a UK redirect number used to hide the real location of the scammer.

Making a google search shows that it has also been used by The German Bike Store to sell bicycles undoubtedly a scam too.

Note that the domain registration only lasts for two months. They aren't planning to be around long.

homelettingcity.com = [ 209.237.152.14 ]

(Asked whois.register.com:43 about homelettingcity.com)

Registrant:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: homelettingcity.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara n 20 1
Funchal Madeira 9000-039
PT
Email: [email protected]

Registrar Name....: Ranger Registration Madeira LLC
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com
Domain Name: homelettingcity.com
Created on..............: Sun Jul 19 2009
Expires on..............: Sat Sep 19 2009
Record last updated on..: Wed Aug 19 2009
Administrative Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: homelettingcity.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara n 20 1
Funchal Madeira 9000-039
PT
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email: [email protected]

Technical Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: homelettingcity.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara n 20 1
Funchal Madeira 9000-039
PT
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email: [email protected]

DNS Servers:
dns249.d.register.com
dns211.c.register.com
dns201.b.register.com
dns076.a.register.com

Actually, can someone tell me whether this is real or not?

Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from mx18.singnet.com.sg ([10.1.1.149])
by mailbox.singnet.com.sg (MOS 3.10.6-GA)
with ESMTP id BKF83336;
Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:36:19 +0800 (SGT)
Received: from web43406.mail.sp1.yahoo.com (web43406.mail.sp1.yahoo.com [68.180.198.208])
by mx18.singnet.com.sg (8.14.1/8.14.1) with SMTP id n7UIa2TY011522
for <Removed>; Mon, 31 Aug 2009 02:36:03 +0800
Received: (qmail 43203 invoked by uid 60001); 30 Aug 2009 18:36:12 -0000
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=yahoo.com; s=s1024; t=1251657372; bh=4ZQEaOQeVV7it6omNTD13xPflwDH/aoFtwJluiVOR+8=; h=Message-ID:X-YMail-OSG:Received:X-Mailer:Date:From:Subject:To:In-Reply-To:MIME-Version:Content-Type; removed domain keyDomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws;
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Removed domain key
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X-YMail-OSG: Removed domain key
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Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:36:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa Bruce <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: BOOKING AND AGREEMENT FORM
To: removed <removed>

am sorry am a deaf but you can talk to my husband +447024095684

Many Thanks
removed date, removed wrote:

From: removed
Subject: Re: BOOKING AND AGREEMENT FORM
To: "Lisa Bruce" <[email protected]>
Date:


Hi Lisa
Can I have your contact number please?
Thanks,
Removed

On removed date, Lisa Bruce wrote:

Thanks for your Interest. I have attached the Booking form/payment process with this message, fill it and send it back to me with a scanned copy of the funds transfer confirmation and also send me your contact address, all these details will be with the doorman for proper recognition when you get to the apartment, i will hand over to you the keys and receipt of payment for the apartment.

MODE OF PAYMENT VIA MONEYGRAM WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER TO:
RECEIVER`S NAME: Lisa Bruce
RECEIVER`S ADDRESS: 13/14 Fountain Green Square, London, SE16 4TX, UK

You can visit http://www.moneygram.com to located the outlet close to your location.. You should send the funds via Money Gram Western union Money Transfer deducting the transfer charges from the rent as it's already been added to the rent... It`s Easy. Fastest and Reliable and you`ll have to Locate the Money Gram Agent outlet to do it in Person....
Note: Is only when payment has been made before i can secure your dates.
After payment has been made please do send me a receipt of the Payment via Attachment to my Email


Welcome to CITY OF LONDON and Happy Stay in My Apartment. Flight details needed if you are still interested in airport pick-up
Ms Lisa

LONDON VACATION RENTAL BOOKING FORM.rtf


am sorry am a deaf but you can talk to my husband +447024095684
Many Thanks

From: Removed
Subject: Re: BOOKING AND AGREEMENT FORM<BRTo: "Lisa Bruce" lt;[email protected]
Date:
Hi Lisa,
Can I have your contact number please?
Thanks,

Lisa Bruce wrote:
Thanks for your Interest. I have attached the Booking form/payment process with this message, fill it and send it back to me with a scanned copy of the funds transfer confirmation and also send me your contact address, all these details will be with the doorman for proper recognition when you get to the apartment, i will hand over to you the keys and receipt of payment for the apartment.

MODE OF PAYMENT VIA MONEYGRAM

and"WESTERN UNION MONEY
TRANSFER TO:
RECEIVER`S NAME: Lisa Bruce
RECEIVER`S ADDRESS: 13/14 Fountain Green Square, London, SE16 4TX,
You can visit http://www.moneygram.com/ to located the outlet close to your location.. You should send the funds via Western union Money Transfer deducting the transfer charges from the rent as it's already been added to the rent... It`s Easy. Fastest and Reliable and you`ll have to Locate the Money Gram Agent outlet to do it in Person....
Note: Is only when payment has been made before i can secure your dates.after payment has been made please do send me a receipt of the Payment via Attachment to my Email

Welcome to CITY OF LONDON and Happy Stay in My Apartment. Flight details needed if you are still interested in airport pick-up
Ms Lisa

LONDON VACATION RENTAL BOOKING FORM.

Lots of edits made to remove personal details and to make the post easier to read- Ralph

Western Union + redirect number + claiming to be deaf (I assume it was the "owner" or "representative" who was claiming to be deaf, not you) + Nigeria IP = SCAM

Hi alysandra,

Very definitely a scam. Apart from the scammer using a +4470 redirect anywhere-in-the-world telephone number and the demand to pay fees via moneygram simply google the email address [email protected]

"She" has already been reported as a romance scammer. The reason she is telling you that her husband will answer the phone is because "she' is a he.

Also please delete you personal details such as your real name and email address from your post. We would like to think that the scammer could in no way link you as an intended victim of his scam.