Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: whales john <[email protected]>

Hello


Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the
apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some
important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro
per month including all bills such as,washing machine, water,
electricity, gas,internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit
payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage
of my properties.The apartment is located at Amstelstraat 22, 1017
Amsterdam, Netherlands. and it just about 1.2km distance to its metro
station,the apartment spacious is about 80sqm and a room is about
30sqm, restaurant and public transport all around and it's 8mins
walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice
and safe area in Netherlands...


Attached are some pics of how my apartment looks like. Kindly let me
know if you will be interested in renting my apartment so that we can
proceed further.


You can simply reach me on +447045717849 or +447045780295 or
+447045782952 for further discussion on the apartment.


Best regards,
john

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union or MoneyGram with a promise that he will send the keys through a courier company.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them again.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.

Yes i am willing to rent it out to you cos it seems you are nice. I am so sorry i will not be available in Netherlands for now as i am presently in UK working but all you need to do is to go straight to the address i sent you and view the apartment but i want you to have it in mind that you will not have full access into the apartment as it is locked and i am here with the keys so that when you are ready i can post you the keys. Thats why i sent you those pictures so that you can see how the apartment looks like.

Let me know if you would like me to proceed in renting my apartment so that i can email you further procedures.

You can simply reach me on +447045717849 for further discussion on the apartment.

Best regards,
john

Thanks for the fast response,I will be willing to rent out my apartment to you,i want you to please do take very good care of my apartment for me in my absence..

For you to get the place reserved we will both sign a rental agreement contract which will be prepared by my lawyer then i will post the keys of the apartment and the payment receipt to you via DHL express (1-2 days delivery ) after your deposit payment which is your first month rent and the security deposit has been confirmed.

Do get back to me with the below information so that we can proceed further:


Your full name:
Your full address:
Nationality:
Passport id:
Phone number:
Date of birth:
Move in date and out:


I shall be waiting for the above informations soonest. Pls make sure you send me your correct current address because i would use that in posting down the keys and the payment receipt to you after we must have concluded the contract.

Best regard
John

Hi all,

Thanks for posting about this creep. He's still out there as of April 29, 2012. The email re: the Amsterdam apartment is the same. His email is now Kelly Whalesjohn <[email protected]> but the con is the same. I thought the larger than rent security deposit was fishy, which is why I Googled his email address. God knows what he'll do with my email address now

Here is the email from Kelly Whalesjohn <[email protected]>, dated April 29, 2012:

Hello

Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro per month including all bills such as,washing machine, water, electricity, gas,internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage of my properties.The apartment is located at Amstelstraat 23, 1017 Amsterdam, Netherlands. and it just about 1.2km distance to its metro station,the apartment spacious is about 80sqm and a room is about 30sqm, restaurant and public transport all around and it's 8mins walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice and safe area in Netherlands...

Attached are some pics of how my apartment looks like. Kindly let me know if you will be interested in renting my apartment so that we can proceed further.

You can simply reach me on +447045717849 or +447045780295 or +447045782952 for further discussion on the apartment.

Best regards,
John

Welcome to scamwarners.

I'm glad you discovered the truth without losing money to this scammer.
You don't have to worry about him having your email address. You might see in increase in scam emails, and maybe spam emails depending on if/how it is shared, but that's pretty much all that can happen when the scammer doesn't have your password or critical information.

Hi everyone,

So glad I found this. I was so close to signing a contract with him and sending him money! I can't believe the level of complexity these people go through in order to scam you... contracts, fake lawyers, personal details..it all makes it seem so real! I must admit that as soon as he said he would require a payment through WU before he sent me the keys I knew it was absolute bullshit.
I wonder how many people s/he/they have already stolen money from...

The email address used this time was [email protected]. The original email was this..

Hello

Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro per month including all bills such as,washing machine, water, electricity, gas,internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage of my properties.The apartment is located at Ansbacher Straße 45 10777 Berlin, Germany and the apartment spacious is about 80sqm and a room is about 30sqm, restaurant and public transport all around and it's 2mins walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice and safe area in Germany..

Attached are some pics of how my apartment looks like. Kindly let me know if you will be interested in renting my apartment so that we can proceed further.You can simply reach me on +447045717849 or +447045780295 for further discussion on the apartment.
Best regards
John

Hi there,

Just wanted to warn that this person is still active to these days.

I got the same response as pretty much everyone else above, with the difference in the location, which this time was Berlin.

I wrote him an email when I found the ad on craiglist:

http://berlin.de.craigslist.de/roo/3060308249.html

and his response was:

Hello

Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro per month including all bills such as,washing machine, water, electricity, gas,internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage of my properties.The apartment is located at Ansbacher Straße 45 10777 Berlin, Germany and the apartment spacious is about 80sqm and a room is about 30sqm, restaurant and public transport all around and it's 2mins walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice and safe area in Germany..

Attached are some pics of how my apartment looks like. Kindly let me know if you will be interested in renting my apartment so that we can proceed further.You can simply reach me on +447045717849 or +447045780295 or +447035941978 for further discussion on the apartment.
Best regards
John

Then I asked him few more questions, but he hasnt replied yet. I never got to the part where he asked me about my details and the transfer through WU.

However this happened to me with 2 other presumably different people.
They were using these emails:

[email protected]

[email protected]

Hope everyone will find these posts before they fall for these scams.

Bye..

Hi, all:

Received an email from this same scammer today (July 16, 2012) for an apartment in Amsterdam, using the following email address:

[email protected]

The content of the message looks to be the same as the others.

Welcome to ScamWarners rwood22.
It would help us if you would post the the email you received from the scammer.
Thanks.

He's still out there and advertising on expatriates.com with the email address [email protected]. I just received this:

Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the
apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some
important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro
per month including all bills such as,washing machine, water,
electricity, gas,internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit
payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage
of my properties.The apartment is located at Spoormakersstraat 43,
1000 Brussel, Belgium and it just about 1.2km distance to its metro
station,the apartment spacious is about 80sqm and a room is about
30sqm, restaurant and public transport all around and it's 8mins
walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice
and safe area in Belgium


Moderator edit to add link to topic: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=56393&p=130735#p130735 ~Bubbles

He's still doing it! Now under the name Mathei Florian...

Sorry I'm French and I speak little English but this person florian Mathei put an ad on craiglist for an apartment in Frankfurt!
SCAM !!!


http://frankfurt.de.craigslist.de/roo/3848109307.html


On the occasion also beware of Julia Muller rent apartment frankfurt I just got a very large sum scammed! Beware

The same annonce the same apartment at Francfort by Raymond Muller

http://frankfurt.de.craigslist.de/roo/3834959346.html

"Raymond Muller" <[email protected]>

hi to all! he offered me an apartment in the centre of amsterdam! he even sent me his scaned passport and ID!! that scumbag!

I am SO glad I found this thread.

"Mathei Floran" is still active as of November 14, 2013. I was very close to sending him my information, and was going to sign a contract to rent his apartment in Jerusalem.

The emails he used to communicate with me are [email protected], and [email protected]

Thank you- I am trying to start a new life here in Israel and this guy could have really messed it up.

Welcome, israelsklar, and thank you for adding information to this topic. I'm really glad you found our information and it was helpful to you!

Could you please post the text of the email the scammer sent? It helps to have the full text here for Google to index, as well as for evidence of the scam associated with the email address. Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you everyone, glad you posted about Florian Mathei as I was about to reply !
Now it's about a flat in Paris...

[email protected]
[email protected]

Ad on Craigslist Paris:

"EUR400 Room in a beautiful center of apartment in paris (paris )
Hello
i am willing to rent out my one bedroom apartment and it is well furnished. If you are interested please contact me for more details.
Hope to read from you soon.
Regards"