Scammers : [email protected] = [email protected]

While trying to find a flat in London i received this mail:

Ciao my futureflatmate,
Thanks for your interest in my lovely bedrooms flat. I have attached my available room photos of my flat below my message for you to read so that you can have a better idea of the Unit (Apartment).
I have a flat available as of today in London ideally located with BEDROOMS and BATHROOMS (one ensuite), a modern kitchen and a spacious living room. Personal Bathroom/toilet attached to each room. You will have your own private Bedroom and Bathroom/Toilet separately. But we would be only share KITCHEN reception and SITTING ROOM only. It's fully furnished, DG, GCH, bath/wc, 24 hrs Security and Porter Service available and entry phone.

ABOUT ME: I am Miss Alessia Johnson , 26 yrs old, female a half British/ half Italian girl, Straight and I am professional Hair Stylist. I am an industrious person. I don't interfere into other peoples private affairs. Am a very laid back person and also, I am open minded and free with everyone. I am looking for student, professional and couples with someone that is okay with my kind of person and most especially a trustworthy person, a clean and tidy and person that I could confide in as a friend and family and that could confide in me as well and I believed you would be the kind of person. I love listening to music, cooking, reading, visiting cities, going to theaters ... I also particularly enjoy meeting new people especially roommate, new nationalities; I have been living with Americans, Spanish, Canadian, French and Italians as my previous flat mates.

Location and Room Rent Details:
ADDRESS: Lower John Street, LONDON, W1F 9DY, England
AREA: Central London (Lambeth, Soho, Belgravia, Southwark, The City, Westminster and Marylebone).
Lower John Street is moments from excellent amenities and close to 24hr shop and all amenities.The nearest underground tube station to my house is Piccadilly Circus station, just off Golden Square which is about 2 minutes walk to my flat. It is good area and walkways with lots of entertainment and places to eat and drink. My flat offers a high and superb location for shops, supermarkets services and transport.

Transport
1 mins walk to bus stop
) So that we can know each other.
2 mins walk. to Piccadilly Circus tube station
5 mins walk. to Bond Street and Baker Street tube station
6 mins walk. to Covent Garden.

ROOM RENT: (£95 weekly - £380 monthly)
DEPOSIT: £400.00 Pounds is the payment of Security Deposit implies that you have a serious intention towards renting my flat and that would enable me to secure the flat room for you.The sum of £400.00 security deposit is fully refundable back to you without any charges. The details of Security Deposit will be sent to you in the Agreement form. If this is okay by you, get back to me with your Full names and the contact Address so that I can send the contract and flat terms to you by email.

Household Utilities and Amenities includes:
#Central Heating, #Underfloor Central Heating, #Alarm system, #Electricity, #Flat screen plasma TVs with cable broadcasting, #Hi-tech music players with surround sound, #Satellite.

#DVD/VCD players, #Video Game {Play station 3}, #Internet Access, #WiFi Wireless Internet Broadband, #Reading Desk, #Bedside Lamp, #Wardrobe, #In-room iron and board, #Goose down duvets and luxurious bedding, #State of the art fully fitted kitchen.

#Gas and Microwave, #Superb Kitchen with Washing Machine/Dryer/Dishwasher, #Cookware and tableware, #Constant hot water, #Parking Lot, #Storage and Gym.


Add & Join me for a window Live Chat on my MSN messenger service am online now... ( [email protected]
I look forward to hearing back from you ASAP..
Your's FutureFlatmate,
Alessia.

After questioning with an other mailaccount we receiveve following mail :

2010/5/20 Annetta Lewis <[email protected]>
Hello,
Thanks for your interest in my lovely bedrooms flat. I have attached my available room photos of my flat below my message for you to read so that you can have a better idea of the Unit (Apartment).
I have a flat available as of today in London ideally located with BEDROOMS and BATHROOMS (one ensuite), a modern kitchen and a spacious living room. Personal Bathroom/toilet attached to each room. You will have your own private Bedroom and Bathroom/Toilet separately. But we would be only share KITCHEN reception and SITTING ROOM only. It's fully furnished, DG, GCH, bath/wc, 24 hrs Security and Porter Service available and entry phone.

ABOUT ME: I am Miss Annetta Lewis , 27 yrs old, female a half British/ half Italian girl, Straight and I am professional Hair Stylist. I am an industrious person. I don't interfere into other peoples private affairs. Am a very laid back person and also, I am open minded and free with everyone. I am looking for student, professional and couples with someone that is okay with my kind of person and most especially a trustworthy person, a clean and tidy and person that I could confide in as a friend and family and that could confide in me as well and I believed you would be the kind of person. I love listening to music, cooking, reading, visiting cities, going to theaters ... I also particularly enjoy meeting new people especially roommate, new nationalities; I have been living with Americans, Spanish, Canadian, French and Italians as my previous flat mates.

Location and Room Rent Details:
ADDRESS: Princes Street,London, W1B 2LR, England
AREA: Central London (Lambeth, Soho, Belgravia, Southwark, The City, Westminster and Marylebone).
Princes Street is moments from excellent amenities and close to 24hr shop and all amenities.The nearest underground tube station to my house is Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus station, just off Golden Square which is about 3 minutes walk to my flat. It is good area and walkways with lots of entertainment and places to eat and drink. My flat offers a high and superb location for shops, supermarkets services and transport.

Transport
1 mins walk to bus stop
3 mins walk. to Oxford Circus tube station
5 mins walk. to Piccadilly Circus station tube station
6 mins walk. to Covent Garden.

ROOM RENT: (£95 weekly - £380 monthly) council tax and utility bills included.
DEPOSIT: £400.00 Pounds is the payment of Security Deposit implies that you have a serious intention towards renting my flat and that would enable me to secure the flat room for you.The sum of £400.00 security deposit is fully refundable back to you without any charges. The details of Security Deposit will be sent to you in the Agreement form. If this is okay by you, get back to me with your Full names and the contact Address so that I can send the contract and flat terms to you by email.

Household Utilities and Amenities includes:
#Central Heating, #Underfloor Central Heating, #Alarm system, #Flat screen plasma TVs with cable broadcasting, #Hi-tech music players with surround sound, #Satellite.

#DVD/VCD players, #Video Game {Play station 3}, #Internet Access, #WiFi Wireless Internet Broadband, #Reading Desk, #Bedside Lamp, #Wardrobe, #In-room iron and board, #Goose down duvets and luxurious bedding, #State of the art fully fitted kitchen.

#Gas and Microwave, #Superb Kitchen with Washing Machine/Dryer/Dishwasher, #Cookware and tableware, #Constant hot water, #Parking Lot, #Storage and Gym.


Add & Join me for a window Live Chat on my MSN messenger service am online now... ( [email protected] ) So that we can know each other.

I look forward to hearing back from you ASAP..
Your's FutureFlatmate,
Annetta.

BOTH MAIL WITH SAME PICTURES OF THE ROOMS

Added quotes for clarity - Ralph

Hi LucienW, welcome to Scamwarners

What you have posted is a classic example of a room for rent scammer, thank you.

By posting there is a good chance that you will help prevent somebody else from being scammed, well done.

If you have any questions, please ask

And the websites to be care off are :

http://217.199.172.155/info.php?id=6830
http://217.199.172.155/landlord.php?id=93248

supported by :
http://www.livesimply.co.uk/


They use Western Union Bank for transactions

also

Global Supplies
NatWest Bank
Adress: PO Box 4115, Hornchurch, Essex RM12 4DF
Iban Nr : GB12NWBK60247718996299
Bic : NWBKGB2L

TAKE CARE

And the person behind it :


[i]Removed links - these are legitimate sites and the model in the photos is most likely not involved in the scam. If the scammer used photos of this model, then the photos can be appropriately marked "used by scammer" and placed here using the "edit" function. - Dotti

Hi Lucien

Do you have any proof that the above 2 sites you mention are guilty of any involvement.

Unfortunately we can not leave unfounded claims on our site so please substantiate your claims or we will need to remove those sites from your post.

Lucien,

Please post the full headers from the emails you received. If the scammer is not using a proxy, I suspect that those headers will trace to Africa or Malaysia, where the real scammer is located.

The two sites you posted are legitimate sites. They are both sites for aspiring models and/or acting talent to post their photos and information in hopes of being discovered. The person in the photo is a model who has posted her photos in hopes of getting further modeling jobs. Neither the sites or the model have anything to do with this scam. The scammer merely pulled a photo from one of these sites (which is as simple as clicking on and saving the image) and copied the name/nationality information for their character.

As victim of scam i did my own research.
The both published URL are the sites of scamming.

After losing money via this site i started an case at the metropolitan police in London.

The scammer kept contacting me via Messenger. After a lot of sniffing communication packets, after a lot of controle and the bank account of the scammer ( you removed) and on with i send also money I'm be sure of the personal info.
Ths messenger picture, also the second one I asked in a friendly way are been compared with face on the pictures of the website you also removed.

After starting a new questioning of renting a flat by an other person via the same website of Alessia we received a new mail with same discriptions, same pictures and an other flat adress. Later I asked an explication at Alessia of the non existing adres (first case) and the same mailcontent of the second mail with other name and adress of the flat.

So technicaly i have enough proof of this scammer. As there is a crime case running in London and a new one I wil start in belgium at the CCI (computer crime institute) i can't publish headers of the mails nor sniffing details of the Live messenger communication. They are part of the investigation.

After controling informatoion via facebook, netlog, Myspace I'm sure about the similarity of the person.

I am sorry to put you through this but i am a little puzzled.

Scammers will normally find a picture or series of pictures on a website and use then as their own pictures, they will create facebook and myspace profiles, dating profiles and the like and on each of those sites they will use the pictures they stole off another website.

The name they use, the address they give you, the photos they post are all stolen, even the bank accounts they give you are from a victim of theirs in most cases.

While I have no doubt you were scammed and I believe that the person who scammed you used these pictures that you have investigated, I am having trouble understanding where your proof comes from that the person in the pictures is the person wo scammed you, scammers rarely do that.

Can we please take this back a few steps and start from the beginning to make sure we have this right, an accurate and proven report will save a lot more people than one that does not make sense or is not proven.

You received an email from "Miss Alessia Johnson" in regards to a flat, in that email you received there was a line;

have a flat available as of today in London ideally located with BEDROOMS and BATHROOMS

I did a search on that line and found that the exact same line had also been used in other emails posted here one by [email protected] which is here viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8511
The property is "ADDRESS: Lower John Street, LONDON, W1F 9DY, England"

Eeverything is identical.

But then if you look at this post viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9342&start=0

You will see that everything is identical except for the address and the name of the person sending the scam.

As I said, scammers use fake names in their scams, I hope I have proven that so far

Moving on, if I understand correctly, the scammer while calling himself Alessia has sent you a photo claiming it is a picture of the person who sent that email to you.

That picture I am presuming you also found in some other placees including a MSN messenger profile where you chatted with this person, again, the MSN messenger picture was stolen and certainly not a picture of the person you chatted with.

If I understand correctly, you realised you were scammed and did some research, the photos you found on that MSN profile were posted on another site which you have presumed must also be involved because it uses the same pictures.

From looking at the other scam I mentioned and linked to, the scammer in your case asked you to send a Western Union payment to another person, a family member or close friend and then they asked to see proof that you sent the money, using the information you sent them, the scammers collected the money.

I understand it can be hard to understand which lies are real and which are not but it seems you have jumped to some conclusions that are not right.

I do hope this makes more sense now

And here is another name of the Scammer. Now it is Adona Lewis. And text is as follow:

Hello,
Thanks for your interest in my lovely bedrooms flat. I have attached my available room photos of my flat below my message for you to read so that you can have a better idea of the Unit (Apartment).
I have a flat available as of today in London ideally located with BEDROOMS and BATHROOMS (one ensuite), a modern kitchen and a spacious living room. Personal Bathroom/toilet attached to each room. You will have your own private Bedroom and Bathroom/Toilet separately. But we would be only share KITCHEN reception and SITTING ROOM only. It's fully furnished, DG, GCH, bath/wc, 24 hrs Security and Porter Service available and entry phone.

ABOUT ME: I am Miss Adona Lewis , 27 yrs old, female a half British/ half Italian girl, Straight and I am professional Hair Stylist. I am an industrious person. I don't interfere into other peoples private affairs. Am a very laid back person and also, I am open minded and free with everyone. I am looking for student, professional and couples with someone that is okay with my kind of person and most especially a trustworthy person, a clean and tidy and person that I could confide in as a friend and family and that could confide in me as well and I believed you would be the kind of person. I love listening to music, cooking, reading, visiting cities, going to theaters ... I also particularly enjoy meeting new people especially roommate, new nationalities; I have been living with Americans, Spanish, Canadian, French and Italians as my previous flat mates.

Location and Room Rent Details:
ADDRESS: Blandford Street,London, W1U 3DQ, England
AREA: Central London (Lambeth, Soho, Belgravia, Southwark, The City, Westminster and Marylebone).
Blandford Street is moments from excellent amenities and close to 24hr shop and all amenities.The nearest underground tube station to my house is a 4 minute walk to both Oxford Street and Bond Street tube station, just off Golden Square which is about 5 minutes walk to my flat. It is good area and walkways with lots of entertainment and places to eat and drink. My flat offers a high and superb location for shops, supermarkets services and transport.

Transport
1 mins walk to bus stop
4mins walk. to Bond Street tube station
5 mins walk. to Oxford Circus tube station
7 mins walk. to Covent Garden.

ROOM RENT: (£120 weekly - £480 monthly) council tax and utility bills included.
DEPOSIT: £500.00 Pounds is the payment of Security Deposit implies that you have a serious intention towards renting my flat and that would enable me to secure the flat room for you.The sum of £500.00 security deposit is fully refundable back to you without any charges. The details of Security Deposit will be sent to you in the Agreement form. If this is okay by you, get back to me with your Full names and the contact Address so that I can send the contract and flat terms to you by email.

Household Utilities and Amenities includes:
#Central Heating, #Underfloor Central Heating, #Alarm system, #Flat screen plasma TVs with cable broadcasting, #Hi-tech music players with surround sound, #Satellite.

#DVD/VCD players, #Video Game {Play station 3}, #Internet Access, #WiFi Wireless Internet Broadband, #Reading Desk, #Bedside Lamp, #Wardrobe, #In-room iron and board, #Goose down duvets and luxurious bedding, #State of the art fully fitted kitchen.

#Gas and Microwave, #Superb Kitchen with Washing Machine/Dryer/Dishwasher, #Cookware and tableware, #Constant hot water, #Parking Lot, #Storage and Gym.


Add & Join me for a window Live Chat on my MSN messenger service am online now... ( [email protected] ) So that we can know each other.

I look forward to hearing back from you ASAP..
Your's FutureFlatmate,
Adona

Hi viennat, welcome to Scamwarners

Thanks for your post, it will certainly help others.

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

Reply of Windows Live Hotmail Customer Support


Thank you for writing to Windows Live Hotmail Customer Support. This is xxxx and I gather that you are concerned about the message you have received. I know how inconvenient for you to receive such message.

Lucien, we have closed the [email protected] account that you reported in accordance with our Terms of Use (TOU).

To view our rules and regulations, visit the following Web site:

http://help.live.com/help.aspx?project= ... ;mkt=en-us

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for contacting Windows Live Hotmail.


Sincerely,


xxxxx
Windows Live Hotmail Customer Support

In general, closing free email accounts does nothing to stop, or even slow down, these scammers--and it can actually do more harm than good. The scammer will just switch to a new free email account. Now when the scammer is using [email protected], or [email protected], or any of thousands of other possibilities, the next victim will search for that new email address, and they won't find us. They won't find anything to suggest that this is a scammer, because the address is brand new and there are no reports of scamming yet. The victim is actually more likely to lose money as a result.

Hi LucienW,

Dotti is completely right, scammers expect to have their email addresses closed down so they have back ups waiting to use, it would not take them more than a couple of seconds to be scamming again and it makes them much harder to track to boot.

We go to great lengths to gather the information they use, by having the email address closed down, the information we have gathered often becomes useless as the scammer gets a free run at stealing from people without us having any details.

You can be much more productive with your time by providing their details for people to find or telling other people about what you have learnt about scammers

Hello,
OK.
But if you do nothing there always will pe people the victim of a scammer.
They vistit your website mostly after they have become victime.
Most victims of scammer are mostly not aware of the existing of scammers and their methode of working

The scammer may have changed his/her e-mailaddress but I also let deleting her advertisement on the website.
And yes she will search for a new website
and yes this make thing difficult for you
Would it be better to cooperate with the national and international police crime departments.
I Believe in the good of your site, but more proactive activities could have more result

Hello Lucien,

Because scammers use false names, and email addresses set up with fake information, and, very frequently, anonymous internet cafés, it is usually impossible for the police to find out who they really are.

Even if they did find out who they are, however, it is probable that they are living in another country, where laws against scamming are not often enforced. The vast majority of scammers, therefore, will never be arrested.

But even when there is a possibility that a scammer can be arrested and charged with their crime, closing down their email accounts can actually hinder or destroy that possibility, because the ongoing investigation will now lose track of that scammer, not knowing their new email address, or their new fake name.

Also, many many folk do indeed google the names and email addresses of people they are in online contact with, and in so many cases it does lead them here before they become the victim of a scam. We receive many grateful messages from people who have done just that.

It is always better to help warn others, and to help any current investigations, by leaving the 'leads' to the scammer, like email addresses, intact, and adding any further information that you might have. That is actually a proactive thing to do - because it helps, not hinders.