London Apartment Rental Scam - www.centrallondoncity.com

This site seems very suspicious:

http://www.centrallondoncity.com/

The site was registered very recently on Madeira, Portugal although the site indicates the agency has been in business since 2007. They ask for a 30% deposit to take reservations. We asked if a friend can drop by and see the apartment and they replied that since it is currently rented, it is better for us to just transfer the deposit. Emails are written in poor English and sent at very strange hours.

Clearly, none of this constitutes a proof that the site is fraudulent but I am not taking any chances...

The site was registered in August 09. I am going to look into it, but for now my best advice would be to go with your first instinct and not take any chances.

Thanks for posting this.

If you have had any correspondence with them, could you post it? Remove your info first, though.
If the site is a scam (very possible) the correspondence can help to provide some of the evidence necessary to get it closed down.

Below is an email I received from the above. Will post another one as well as they requested transfer from WU.

******

We can confirm that the apartment is available at the moment although
we've had several tentative enquiries for the same dates so we would
advise that you confirm as soon as possible if you want to go ahead
with the booking.

You requested for 6 nights which is

We required 30% deposit from the rent rate which £ and £
refundable security deposit which in total is £.

We will need you to make the deposit of £, so that we can get the
date book for you, We will advise you to send the deposit through
Western Union Money Transfer, we can only accept Western Union from
you, becuase the bank transfer from abroad takes 3 - 4 days before
it's appear in our account, we know we can't , receive the deposit
from your bank in 2 days, send the deposit with the information below.

Name: Simon Peter
Address: 57 Leinster Square, Bayswater ,London W2 7PR United Kingdom

Once you have made the payment and paid, the Western Union Agent will
issue a unique transaction identification number known as Money
Transfer Control Number (MTCN). This is your confirmation.

Send us the MTCN and the name of the sender.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.


Williams,

Welcome to Scamwarners nkam. Thank You for posting this information.

It will alert and save others from being scammed. Well Done

Note - here for similar scammers mail using the same address;

http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10985#p10985

Hi Nkan

Welcome to Scamwarners.

Could you please post the email address or any other information from these people as that will help others to find this information and avoid being scammed.

Hi there,

Pls see the following reply...

--- On Fri, 11/9/09, Central London City <[email protected]> wrote:

From: Central London City <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, 11 September, 2009

Try to make the western union as soon as you arrive,you can
find western union in the airport as soon as you arrive.

hi, I come from Italy and I booked a stay of 50 days in one of "Central London City Apartments". I'll leave within 3 days and I'm terribly worried about this matter. After having paid the total amount by bank transfers I received an invoice some weeks ago, but I'm still waiting for an arrangement for my arrival... The first contact was in September, and I agree with the terrible English, even if I'm Italian...I don't know what to do, an idea? a particular police office?
thanks

Hi Nanu

Welcome to Scamwarners.

Could you please post some of the emails and email address you received, particularly the early ones and we can give you a better indication.

Please be sure to remove any of your own details

this is the 1st email (19 Sept 2009) from <[email protected]>

Thank you very much for your inquiry.

For your travel dates we could offer you the following options:
Clanricarde Gardens, Notting Hill

Our HOLIDAY APARTMENT is £/week.

We are available throughout that time. The cost per night is £ a
night,so for 41 nights the total is £.

This includes all utilities. There is a fully equipped kitchen. We
supply all linens, and there is parking space.

There is high speed wireless internet for your convenience. If you are
interested we take 30% and refundable £200 security deposit to confirm
your booking

and the rest of the balance on your arrival.

Or you may pay in full at the time of the booking. The amount of 30%
would be £ plus £200 security deposit making £, we can confirm
your booking if

you make the deposit . We accept money transfer or bank transfer only.

Please let us know if you are interested and we can go from there.

You can view more pictures and information on our website at:

http://www.centrallondoncity.com

Thank you and have a great day.

Kenneth.

Hi Nanu,

I am so sorry, the email address says it all, you have been scammed, please look at this post where the same email address is listed Click here to see where that email address was posted which is most likely how you found us.

I am affraid you will not be able to get your money returned and you need to be on the look out for further scams that may now target you including a scam that suggests your money can be returned.
If you have any questions, please dont hesitate to ask

thank you so much, do you know if for bank transfers there are specific office in England to report the matter?

If you sent the money by bank transfer, you can give the information to us and we can report it for you.

We would need a selection of emails including headers to serve as proof and there is a chance that something can be done to at least slow them down.

You can send this information to my email address as posted below.

If you are unsure of how to find headers, let us know which email provider you use (yahoo/hotmail/ect) and we can give you specific instructions

we both use gmail

to find headers in gmail, you need to open the email first
at the top right corner, right next to reply you will see a downward pointing triangle
Click on it an a small options box will appear
From the menu, choose "Show original"
the header will appear in a new window
Copy that and paste it into an email.

The emails in particular are teh ones where he gives his bank account details