Got scammed and lost a lot of money...

Hello everybody,...

This is my sad little story: My name's Elisabeth and I'm from Germany. I finished my studies in Germany and I'm about to move to Copenhagen, Denmark. On expatriates.com I saw an advertisement for an apartment in Copenhagen, close to my university. I was a reasonable price, so I wrote an email to the owner.

He told me that he needed some kind of security deposit in order to confirm my "seriousness" of renting the apartment. He was in the UK and before he came all the way to Denmark, he wanted to be sure that I really wanted the apartement. Anyway, I send the money, and after that he send me a kind of pre-contract. It said that i also needed to send him one months rent...

anyway, now, i don't understand why i send him any money at all...i feel really embaressed about my stupidity...anyway, he was really convincing, i lost a LOT of money. i'm a student, i worked hard for it and now it's gone...i went to copenhagen yesterday to view the apartment, and, of course, the guy didn't show up...

now, i don't know what to do. i have a few questions, maybe you can help me...

the guy send me from two different email-addresses:
[email protected]

the header of this address is:

Received: from [76.13.13.78] (helo=n1c.bullet.mail.ac4.yahoo.com)
by mx31.web.de with smtp (WEB.DE 4.109 #226)
id 1K35da-0004C1-00
for [email protected]; Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:43:31 +0200
Received: from [76.13.13.26] by n1.bullet.mail.ac4.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:43:30 -0000
Received: from [68.142.200.224] by t3.bullet.mail.ac4.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:43:30 -0000
Received: from [216.252.122.218] by t5.bullet.mud.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:43:29 -0000
Received: from [69.147.84.116] by t3.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:43:29 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp208.mail.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:43:29 -0000
X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-5
X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: [email protected]
Received: (qmail 96240 invoked by uid 60001); 2 Jun 2008 08:43:24 -0000

Received: from [41.219.215.124] by web46106.mail.sp1.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:43:23 PDT
X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.185
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 01:43:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Patel Banuphrasad <owomabo>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: URGENTTTT
To: [email protected]>
In-Reply-To: <1159400397>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0-979921230-1212396203=:94595"
Message-ID: <40729>
Sender: [email protected]

maybe you can tell from where he send the email???

the second email-address was:
[email protected]

the header to this address was:
Received: from [98.136.44.188] (helo=n55.bullet.mail.sp1.yahoo.com)
by mx12.web.de with smtp (WEB.DE 4.109 #226)
id 1K35gN-0003xy-00
for [email protected]; Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:46:24 +0200
Received: from [216.252.122.217] by n55.bullet.mail.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:46:22 -0000
Received: from [68.142.194.243] by t2.bullet.sp1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:46:22 -0000
Received: from [209.191.90.56] by t1.bullet.mud.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:46:22 -0000
Received: from [127.0.0.1] by omp109.mail.mud.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Jun 2008 08:46:22 -0000
X-Yahoo-Newman-Property: ymail-5
X-Yahoo-Newman-Id: [email protected]
Received: (qmail 42379 invoked by uid 60001); 2 Jun 2008 08:46:22 -0000

Received: from [41.219.215.124] by web45916.mail.sp1.yahoo.com via HTTP; Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:46:21 PDT
X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.7.185
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 01:46:21 -0700 (PDT)
From: Jp Clark Chambers <jpclarkchambers>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Apartment in Copenhagen
To: [email protected]>
In-Reply-To: <1159395875>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="0-2002950668-1212396381=:40839"
Message-ID: <246840>
Sender: [email protected]

i also called him on his phone:
+447031931775

Do you think there is any way that you could track this number???
Do you think there is any way that I could get my money back???

He also send me a copy of his passport...but I guess that's fake...

maybe you can comment on this...i guess, i have no way of getting my money back...but maybe talking a bot about this, will help me to get over it. I really lost my trust in people...

greetings,
elisabeth

Hello, Elisabeth.

So sorry you have been scammed by this person.

Both email headers resolve to Nigeria & the phone number, although +44, is a 'redirect to anywhere' service. All +4470xxxxxx numbers fall into that category & in this instance, it will be registered with false details, so not much chance of tracing the person.

Sadly, there is no way you can recover your lost money.

You may like to visit: www.fraudaid.com but it is aimed primarily at the American victims & I'm not sure if you would be of help to you, but it has useful information concerning Identity Theft.

Hi Elizabeth,

Sorry to hear that you have lost money to the scammer.

We can not do anything to get your money back but we can definately help you to not lose any more of your money.

I just did a couple of quick searches on the information you provided but found nothing, not yet anyway.

The passport used may have been fake if not stolen but almost definately is not that of the scammer.

I guess you have stopped all communication already, if not you need to do that from now on, you could try contacting your local authorities, we have a few German's active here who may be able to be a little more precise about who to contact in your area.

You need to also be aware of recovery scams, scammers will often send an email to those they have previously scammed from a new email address pretending to be from the FBI, scotland yard, the EFCC or other law enforcement authorities, they have a range of stories but generally they will tell you they can retrieve your money however fees will be attached, any email suggesting your money can be returned will undoubtedly be a scam and most likely from the same person.

It is quite late here now and I need to get some sleep but others will be along shortly with more advice, if you have any questions feel free to ask

hey Elizabeth, and hello to others,

I have to thank you... and someone else on dubizzle.com site. I have almost sign documents and send money to man named Patel Pratik.. almost.. - thanks to you. I wrote in google his phone number and 2 links appear. And I am so sorry that he cheat you. It is so awful, dissapointed ,.. I really have no word to say how I feel in this moment. There are really no true and honestly in this world... and how after such experience I can trust anyone... :(
So people I would like to warn you!! Man called Patel Pratik or Patel Banuphrasad (because I saw that he introduce you using other name) offer amartament which no exist. I had an offer in Copenhagen from him, but on the other forum one girl said that she got an offer from United Arab Emirates.. besides she got almost exactly e-mail from him as me - the same words, he only copy an advertisment and offer it in a different places in the world, and try to get money from honest people. What is more, he said in his e-mail that there was a time when he was robbed by some guy!!! I can not belief how insolent this man is!!! I hope that it will come a day when he will be catch and arrested.
Elizabeth I hope that you notify it at the police station. I really do not know what to say. DO you have a place to live now? I arrive to Copenhagen at the end of this month. I have still no place to live there but I really really thank you. Take care Elizabeth.

Ling, Welcome here. I am so glad to hear that you were able to figure out the scam by doing an internet search! Good for you. Thanks for posting your story.

Hi, Elisabeth, and hi to you, Ling.

I can only second what people already have truely said. The criminal can and will hide in anonymity, having given you a fake name, fake personal details, living abroad, having (most likely) operated from a public internet cafe, so there is no way to trace him, let alone sue him. Even if the criminal was not in Nigeria but in a nearer country to us, because of the anonymity nature of this kind of crime it is damn hard to collect as much evidence to get the police doing something, unfortunately. So sorry to hear you have fallen victim to this thief. They are good at what they do, being professional liars, and mostly operating together with other criminals who build up fake sites (banks etc.) or who forge convincing looking documents etc etc.

It seems you can do not much more than help other people, more people, to find out about this criminal by posting (as you have rightly done) the thief´s email address and the name he gave and possibly his original email, so other victims (and he most likely will have other victims, it´s a multi million dollar crime with possibly many tens of thousands of victims every year) who enter the details into a search engine will find this scamarners-link, hopefully, before having sent any money.

This must sound so futile to you right now, and it´s perfectly understandable, it is a mean feeling understanding that one has no chances to get the money back and the police will not be able to do anything. Many victims have already been so kind to share their experience with us, and maybe it helps them to find out that their publishing the criminal´s details is the best way to educate other people about it.

Here is the e-mail adrress from which I have got massages from that bastard: [email protected]

Well done. The search engines will soon find this and lead other people to this forum, where he is shown as a scammer.

Hello to Elizabeth and Ling

I am very sorry about your experiences with these scammers but thank you for sharing your stories here so other people can read them and be warned.

While your money has unfortunately been stolen, you can 'fight back' by telling your family, friends and colleagues about these internet scammers and how they operate. By all means give people the Scamwarners website address so they can see for themselves how to spot a scam and how to deal with it. While these scams are very common there are still a lot of innocent people out there who don't realise the extent of the problem and the various types of scam so it's very important to spread the word and hopefully save any future victims from the financial and emotional hardship caused by these criminals.

Don't feel too bad Elizabeth. These scammers are very good at what they do and can be very convincing.

Hi,
I am really sorry your loss. I planned to rent a flat from this person too, but I searched for his number after I saw the awful "contract" he sent me and I found your post, thank you.
He now advertises apartments in Amsterdam too. His e-mail always [email protected] and wants money via Western Union now to this address:
308 NORBURY AVENUE,LONDON,SW16 3RL.
This story is so infuriating. I hope you contacted with the police, there must to be somebody, who can tell who gets the money.
Best wishes,
M

Hi M M! I'm glad you found this post and were alerted to the scam. Please do read here about the other types of fraud and spread the word!

WELL. THIS GUY IS WRITING NOWADAYS TO ME FROM TWO DIFFERENT EMAILS..

IN ONE OF THEM HE EXACTLY SAID 'DONT THINK THAT I AM ONE OF THOSE SCAMMERS. I WILL SEND YOU MY PASSAPORT SO THAT YOU BELIEVE ME...'

WHAT A FREAK.. BUT HE IS SOO STUPID THAT HE SENT ME FROM TWO DIFFERENT EMAIL ABOUT TWO DIFFERENT APPARTMENTS WITH THE SAME STORY AND PIC. LUCKILY I HAVE REALISED THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG...

ANYWAYS IF YOU WANT YOU CAN WRITE HIM FROM THIS ADDRESS SAY YOU ARE INTERESTED IN YOUT APPARTMENT IN AMSTERDAM [email protected]

MAY BE HE WOULD REPLY

AND PROBABLY HE IS READING THOSE AS WELLL

CIAO

Hi Naide,

Welcome to scamwarners, thanks for posting those details and the address.

I will make one point, if anybody does intend on contacting this criminal (yes, that is what he is) please be sure to do it prepared.

If you vist www.419eater.com they can teach you how to bait safely, many of the warners here contact these scumbags regularly and we all know how to do it without risk to ourselves.

Learn safe baiting, then reply

Warning!

To add to the previous writer's post about the Craiglist in France; I have been in contact with a person about an appartment in Paris. I have had the same information as the rest of you.

Name : Mimran Emmanuel
Email: [email protected]
Address of the appartment: 48 rue des vignoles , Paris, 75020
Address for the payment: 308 NORBURY AVENUE,LONDON,SW16 3RL.
Mobile: +447031931775

Thanks for your postings. It helped me not to loose any money.