Scam : Magnificent one bedroom flat to rent - laura berry

Hi people! just to warn anyone who might be looking at this add, i found it on gumtree and then realised after they emailed me that it was a scammer.

firat of all i emailed them about the flat and they just asked me basic questions like what i wanted the flat for and how long ect. ect so i answered the questions and asked to book a viewing,
they then sent me this email:

Thanks for the swift reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat, £65 perweek including utility bills and there is no hidden charges. I am willing to have you in my flat as long as you'll take good care of my flat as how it is but it is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view or reserve my flat without any form of confirmation of their financial ability and not keeping up to time as at when scheduled, has brought about great loss to me. I have traveled all the way from Ireland to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work with M. Gould (Scunthorpe) Ltd.

Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are in exeter, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by their employers.

Henceforth my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on financial ability to pay for my rent before coming for viewing. I would not ask you to send your bank statement. At least one month rent and security deposit which is £ 400 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through western union money trasfer . You can make the transfer with your name as a sender name and your partner or friend in UK premises as a receiver.

Once you have done this, Scan the receipt to me and if you do not have scanner, you may write out the details on the receipt as i will send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your friend's custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the viewing and you can as well tell your friend or partner to pick up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

Kindly reply if you have more questions to ask

Regards
Mr/Mrs Berry

Luckily, i didnt send them any money as it seemed odd for a landlord to ask for the deposit before agreeing to a let.
They go by the name of Laura Berry DONT TRUST THEM!

Hi Elleebee, welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad you realised it was a scam before losing any money, well done.

Thank you for posting about yours , it will help others to avoid the scam.

Could you please include the email address and if you can the header from the email which will likely save others from being scammed.

If you are unsure about headers let us know which email provider you use (Yahoo / Hotmail / Gmail / Outlook / ect) and we can give you specific instructions.

Please remember to remove your own email address when posting

You seem to be well sorted but if you have any questions please ask

I'm going to make a massive guess and say that this scammer is [email protected] writing from IP address 41.155.100.141 (Lagos Nigeria).

Welcome to Scamwarners Elleebee

The scammer wanted you to send him money for a deposit or to prove that you have genuine interest in the property. He would have asked you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union).

Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected.

You may find this BBC news report and video of interest.... it's shows how a similar Room for Rent scam works..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/art ... ture.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7648771.stm

Me and my girlfriend spotted this AMAZING flat on gumtree. With a rental fee of £260 with everything included, we were waiting for the catch. The catch never came, there was nothing about DSS, students and even the fact that we are a openly gay couple didnt seem to put these people off.

Having looked at some of the pictures, we decided that we wanted it and emailed the "Landlord" again. She explained that she had had problems with tenants in the past (which was a fair explanation for wanting references) and that for security she liked to see financial activity. (I bet she does!!!!!!!!)

We thought that this was fair enough and were all set to wire the monies (sounds like something out of Fonejacker doesnt it??) to a close friend. It was only when we received an email from this site that we realised that we very nearly parted with £700 to have recieved nothing in return.

Be warned! If something looks far too good to be true? Then it probably is. Look for a reputable physical landlord, as 99% of landlords are happy to show you around their property without charge. Estate agents are just as useful! Dont resort to internet hunting and "googling". You could end up googling your money away.

It was only when we received an email from this site that we realised that we very nearly parted with £700 to have recieved nothing in return.

Welcome to scamwarners retrospurs ... it might have been me that warned you.

A rule of thumb to avoid Room for Rent Scammers:-

If you receive any replies asking you to send money in advance of viewing - (This includes making a Western Union payment to yourself or a family friend, and paying for keys and documents to be couriered to you from abroad.) It will be a scam.