DAVID JOHN EHRENSTROM SCAMMER

Mod note: The name being used for this scam belongs to a real and innocent person. The real David Ehrenstrom is in NO way connected to this scam. His name and identity are being abused by a scammer.

Hi All this is just a WARNING concerning scammer DAVID JOHN EHRENSTROM.

So I'm 19, looking for a place to move out preferably in the city. Thats how I stumble upon DAVID JOHN EHRENSTROM on apartments.co.nz. He was advertising an apartment in the Auckland CBD for rent. Quite cheap too,just $150 a week. He had really good looking photos of the apartment too, which I presume were FAKE.

His first email:

ts very Nice to Read from you,My name is David John Ehrenstrom the owner of the one Bedroom flat for rent that wants to be rented out,so we are looking for a responsible person that can take Very Good care of the flat..It was due to my Christian Missionary Transfer that made us to leave the flat,so we want you to take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at all time.So for now I am now in West Africa,also i am with the keys and documents of the flat,We try to look for an agent or friends that we can give this Keys and document before we left but could not see and we don't want our flat to be used any how in our Absent that is why i brought the keys along with me here.So pls get back to me on how you could take care of our flat or perhaps experience you have in renting apartments.Hope you are okay with the price of $150 per week with utilities like :- Stove - Electric ,Refrigerator, Microwave ,Ice Maker ,Full Kitchen ,Coffee maker ,TV/VCR ,Stereo ,Phone ,Linens provided ,High Speed Internet ,CD Player ,Cable/Satellite TV,Double/twin zip & link beds and a child's cot can be provided ,Fitted wardrobe, Kitchen Electric hob/oven,Kitchen utensils ,Microwave ,Washer & dryer,Refrigerator & freezer ,Toaster ,Electric kettle ,Iron and ironing board ,TV & DVD ,Telephone and Fast internet access ,Pedestal Fan ,Free parking.
Rent is $150 per week or $600 per month
Bond is $600
Phone number:0112348132758551 or +2348132758551

********RENT APPLICATION FORM********
(Private and Confidential)

Also, Pls let me get answer to the application below :-
1)Your Full Name ?
2)Your Full Address Where You Reside Right Now ?
3)Reachable Mobile Phone Number ?
4)Age ?
5) Sex ?
6)Are You Married ?
7)How many people will be living in the apartment?
8Copy of Photo ID..(Optional)?
9)Do You have a Pet ?
10)Do You have a Car ?
11)Occupation ?
12) Citizen Of Which Country ?
13)How Long Did You Want To Stay ?
14)What Is Your Moving In Date ?
15) How Many Month Rent Are You Willing To Pay ( First 1month rent + Bond) or If You Pay ( First 2month rent +
Bond And Get 1 Month Free)...So which one do you prefer ?
Reference
Name:
Address:
Telephone Number:
Relationship:

Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt in your name and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the documents and the keys to you,please we are giving you all this based on trust and again i want you to stick to your words,We are putting everything into God's hand,so please do not let us down in this property of ours and God bless you more as you do this.Hope to read from you as soon as possible.
Thanks and GOD bless you.
I look forward to hearing from you asap.

David

He then sent me a second email saying:

Thanks very much for your reply and also i can see your willingness in this rent your application form as been approved and you are now qualify for this rent. So as we shall be renting our properties to you, please again take very good care of the apartment.Once again, we are giving you this on trust and do not disappoint us and i promise you that you will love the apartment.

Here are the contents of the packages that will be deliver to you via DHL EXPRESS COURIER SERVICE.
1)Entrance and the Rooms Keys
2)Papers
3)Payment Receipt

So i am with your informations here with me and i will like to know whether you are ready for the payment of the first month rent and the Bond so that you can move in asap.. Let me know If I could forward you the Information on how and where to send the money through any Western Union Money Transfer location nearest to you so I can get all the package sent to you immediately. Hope to read from you soonest Thanks and God bless
Regards

David

He sent a copy of his passort and attachment photos of the apartment saying that is was already mine and he was legit. He had a NZ passport saying he was born in NZ


Thanks for your reply and i want you to know that this is legit..i want you to know i have to be carefully this days cause i send the keys to someone and they stole all my belongings so that is why i don't want to do that anymore and i swear to almighty God that if you make the send the payment today you will surely get the keys and the documents so that you can be able to move in,You sound skeptical from your last email, and that is very wrong, if you are thinking that I just wanted to take your money for nothing. When I known how people worked and earn their money, I will never think of taking some advantages over you and your money, please take that out of your mind, that is really awful thing on the earth that I will never think about doing. Please understand me better, I was not trying to lure you into this, everything about me is 100% real ok, i will like you to know one thing i am a Man of God and i so much believe in his words and i can never tarnish my name and image all because of money and i wouldn't do such a thing when i have blood running through my vein,So I shall be shipping out the keys and the document to you as soon as you make the payment....Let me know when if i can forward you the information you will be using in sending the payment....

Thanks & God Bless You

That day he blew my phone up altogether a total of 25 times (missed calls) and 16 received. His cell number was 002348132758851. Not to mention my home phone. A dead give away that I did pick up on, but ignored because I thought he was legit was a real strong african accent, to the point that i could not understand him over the phone. No Nz born person could of picked up this accent even over a few years living in Africa.

Next email:

Hi,

Thanks for your response and I really appreciate your trusting and promise to take very good care of our flat..So here is the information of my wife where you will send the payment.You will have to go to any nearest westernunion grocery stores and make the payment.If the payment is confirm today you will recieve the keys on tuesday..

Recievers name:David John Ehrenstrom
Address: 24 howard avenue
City: Victoria Island
State: Lagos
Country: Nigeria
Zip code: 23401
Text Question : In God
Answer : We Trust

Here is the nearest westernunion where you can make the payment right now:

PREMIER LIQUOR CENTRE
278 Penrose Road
Mt Wellington
Auckland, 1060
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

As soon as you wire the payment Please get back to me with the following Information :

Sender's Full Name & Address
10 Digits confirmation number known as the MTCN #
Amount Sent.
Tel #

Please confirm the address were the keys and documents will be delivered to:

Thanks so much and God Bless You
Awaiting to hear from you soon

David

So I sent the payment and then his next email came

Hello ,

How are you doing today ?Payment was received in good faith right now the keys and documents are ready to be sent out to you but we have been told to pay a refundable $850 for tax and insurance this is to ensure safe delivery of the package which contains vital documents of my property this is to be paid incase anything happens to the keys and documents then DHL would be held responsible so on arrival of the keys and documents to you the $850 would be handed over to you I am sorry for any inconvinience I might have caused you are sending the payment to the same information you sent previous payment I await your email Asap .

David

More emails from David

All we need is a reliable and responsible person to own and take very good care of the apartment,we can never rip you off with your hard earned money..However I want you to put your mind at rest and have nothing to worry about the apartment is already yours and I'm giving you my word as a man of God I promise not to let you down with the keys/document after you are done with the payment...I just want you to be happy and excited because the apartment is already yours.you will also recieve the $850 back and the keys.you will also get one month free...please try and make the payment today.....

i will like you to know one thing i am a Man of God and i so much believe in his words and i can never tarnish my name and image all because of money and i wouldn't do such a thing when i have blood running through my vein,So I shall be shipping out the keys and the document to you as soon as the payment is done.please try and borrow the money from anybody...please am assuring you that you will be getting the keys and the $850 by saturday morning.......please.please.please........

As i stated in my previous mail that i am a Good christian and i fear God a lot in everything i am doing cause i believe God is the greatest and i can never tarnish my whole image and name all just because of money all i am trying to do is to get the right person in the home which i think it is probably you and want you to know that my word is my honour.I have try getting $350 so the balance is $500.please try and help me out with $500 please,please,please,please.

SO STUPID ME I SENT $500 and he said I would receive the keys on Sunday. Keys never came and when I asked him why this is what he said:

am so sorry to send this message i was attack by armrobber so they took all the money with me.Please i have been able to raise $600 and the balance is $250....please help me out.i just came back from the hospital....

OMG seriously, this guy has some nerve! So I told him he was full of s*** and to refund my money. Ohh surprise surprise. He has no money..

I'm so sorry to hear that . I know at your young age it must me tough . At least you got his details posted here so it will hopefully save someone else . The Nigerians run their rental scams everywhere . Including the small town where i live . The best thing for you to do is tell everyone , all your friends , the local paper .

Learn to use the resources here and on sites like ripoff report . You can post him there also . The more exposure the better . Education and exposure are the keys to putting them out of business .

T5

We also need his email addresses and the full headers from any emails he sent you . Perhaps we can hunt him down and have his other fraud rental ads deleted for now . You can look up instructions online on for extracting email headers . Its different for each email provider .

Hello Jasmine1 and Terminator5, this is David Ehrenstrom - not the Nigerian who has phished my name from Births, Deaths & Marriages or some other database, but the REAL David Ehrenstrom alive and well living in Auckland, New Zealand. I am grateful to my nephew for alerting me to this post last week.

It is a sad tale that you tell but you still fail to join all the dots which wouldn't concern me apart from your highly defamatory comments regarding myself. To recap, you sought to rent a fully furnished apartment including free telephone, internet access and car parking; all for $150 pw. Then the cardinal rule is truly broken - you send cash via Western Union to Nigeria of all places, to someone you've never met. Seriously.

He sends you a copy of an NZ passport and to your credit you acknowledge that you did pick up on his strong African accent which you chose to ignore because, based on your experience so far, you thought he was legit. Scams rely on victims believing what they want to believe. Once the bait is taken, the scammer squeezes - love his use of God/Christianity although the armed robbery was a bit overcooked - until the victim has that "light bulb moment".

What I don't understand is why that moment for you didn't include realsiing that Captain Nigeria was using somebody else's name - my name! I've heard their are rooms full of scammers in Nigeria and Ukraine doing this type of thing all day, every day. Why on earth would they use their own name? Duh.

I am very easy to find (there is no other Ehrenstrom in NZ and all Erenstrom's you find are relatives) and I'm certainly not hiding from anyone. By all means contact me through my details registered on this site, I am certainly not hiding here in Auckland and am quite happy for you to pursue your lost funds through Small Claims Tribunal - I'll even help you fill out the paper work so we can get to Court and resolve this. Failing that, I'd be grateful if you would remove reference to MY GOOD NAME from your web site. Your reference to me is highly defamatory and I WILL take whatever action is necessary to avoid reputational damage.

Yours faithfully,

David Ehrenstrom
Auckland
New Zealand

Hello David. Nobody is suggesting you are the person conducting this scam and you can't be defamed because a criminal uses your name and it looks like it is classic identity theft. I can't see anything "highly defamatory" as you suggest. The OP has sent what is a factual report of his scam and the names used to carry it out. As you say the criminal is in Nigeria and no court claim on earth is going to recover one penny of the stolen money. Publishing this is actually your best protection and makes it plain you are not actually scamming anyone, unless you happen to come from Nigeria.

That's all very well for you to say but it's not your name that comes up in search engine results. I'm an executive recruiter and my reputation and personal brand is critical to my business. My surname is rare, certainly in NZ where I am the ONLY person with this surname.

You misunderstand my encouragement to sue - I'm inviting someone to sue me for your lost funds. I'm challenging you to prove that it was David Ehrenstrom who scammed anybody by suing me here in NZ.

NOWHERE DO YOU CONFIRM OR EVEN SUGGEST THAT IT IS A "CLASSIC CASE OF IDENTITY THEFT".

Unless I had posted a response, no one would know it was such a case as you make no effort whatsoever to mention that this is what has happened. Perhaps your comments would be valid if somewhere prominent on your site you made it clear that it is not the real David Ehrenstrom doing the scamming - I am also a victim here but the damage to me personally may be considerably more than a few hundred dollars sent to Captain Nigeria. Having read Law, I suggest to you that it is this ommission that leaves you open to a claim of defamation and I reject in totality your assertion that I am somehow better off and protected by this post.

I will take legal advice on the matter given your reticence to rectify the clear wrong done to my reputation.

Hello David. I quote you.

NOWHERE DO YOU CONFIRM OR EVEN SUGGEST THAT IT IS A "CLASSIC CASE OF IDENTITY THEFT".

I can draw your attention to my post above which makes it plain that you personally are not called a scammer.

Nobody is suggesting you are the person conducting this scam and you can't be defamed because a criminal uses your name and it looks like it is classic identity theft. I can't see anything "highly defamatory" as you suggest. The OP has sent what is a factual report of his scam and the names used to carry it out. As you say the criminal is in Nigeria and no court claim on earth is going to recover one penny of the stolen money. Publishing this is actually your best protection and makes it plain you are not actually scamming anyone, unless you happen to come from Nigeria.

The real fact is that someone using your name is scamming, that is a fact that can't be changed. Now of course all this jumping up and down isn't helping you because the post make it clear we all say we know it is not you. In what way does removing a scam warning help you? I think it more likely that people will think it is you without this posting. Maybe in law an honest statement of fact is permissable, and the post says that someone using the name DAVID JOHN EHRENSTROM is a scammer.I believe this is called "FAIR COMMENT". I still don't see anything saying the real DAVID JOHN EHRENSTROM is a scammer. In the world of scamming many rich and famous have their identities stolen and their names used, and you, sadly, are just another victim. They are not arriving in droves and threatening Scamwarners because the site has published their name associated with scams.
Have you been to West Africa?
Are you a missionary?
Do you sound like an African?
Are the phone numbers quoted belonging to you ?
No!! Then it isn't you obviously enough