Room for Rent Scammer - [email protected]

From: Helena Duffy < [email protected] >
Date: 2010/4/8
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: Bright and Spacious one bedroom flat in Coventry.
To: Michelle


Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent : £ 75.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 500.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you. Can you take care of my flat as it is? Do you have references in Coventry?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy

The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send (by Western Union) money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! 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 will never get to see the accommodation or your money 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 Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment by Western Union 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.

From: Helena Duffy [mailto: [email protected] ]
Sent: 14 April 2010 10:34
To: Michelle
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: Stunning and spacious one bedroom flat in Oxford


Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat.My flat is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my flat,I spoke with my lawyer some couple of minute ago concerning the interest you have in my flat and we both agreed to have you in my flat.

Furthermore. i would like to know when will be convenient for you for the viewing so that we can fixed a particular time for the viewing and i can as well inform my lawyer because he would be present for the viewing as well,because the tenancy agreement and the keys to my flat is with him but,It is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view 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 Oxford, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

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 2 Weeks rent and security deposit which is £ 500 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through western union transfer agent. 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.

I look forward to reading from you soon. ( +447024093708 )

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy

hi i just been scammed for £950 from this woman/man for a flat to rent in milton keynes advertised on gumtree.co.uk beware of this person and avoid at all costs

the person has emailed me yet again asking for another £500 even after taking £950 from me

Hi. We're sorry to hear that you were scammed.
This thief always asks for more money due to various reasons. His solicitor claiming that the deposit is not enough, shipping insurance for the keys, deposit to cover damages etc.
These are all lies and people have paid out of desperation hoping that the extra payment will make everything OK.
This scammer is very convincing but as the property is not his, the keys or the fake landlord can never ever arrive.

many thanks for your support con warner, i appreciate that , i have forwarded all my emails and moneygram @ post office copies from helena duffy to the police , i know the police cannot do much in this case but they did say the fraud squad would investigate this further, the scammer also mentioned that she worked for P. H. Elliott and company i have researched them and they are a property develoment company in northern ireland, also the phone number at the bottom of her emails is from the southend area , also i did go to the said mentioned property address yesterday and it turned out to be a house and not a flat as thought, the owners were not happy someone using there address for this sort of purpose. anyway i will keep you posted as to the outcome of all this many thanks for all your help and what a great site this is i just wish i had found this site a while ago then i wouldn't be out of pocket , kind regards P. jarrett ps: keep up the good work

I got this morning.
This is a reply to my ad in Brighton.

---------------------------
RE: Reply to your ad: Bright and spacious double bedroom flat inBradford. all bills inclusive.
From: Helena Duffy <[email protected]>
---------------------------

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent £300 pcm : £ 75.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 500.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Bradford?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy
---------------------------------
She is still working ... hard-working ...

Krzysztof K

I would like to say THANK YOU! as i nearly got scammed but I googled her name and this was the first page that popped up she is now using [email protected]

email 1
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent £300 pcm : £ 75.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 500.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Miltonkeynes?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy
email 2
Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat.My flat is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my flat,I spoke with my lawyer some couple of minute ago concerning the interest you have in my flat and we both agreed to have you in my flat.

However,it is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view 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 (P. Elliott & Company).

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 Miltonkeynes,also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

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 or before making a reservation for any interested candidate. I would not ask you to send your bank statement neither your pay slip because it will be inappropriate for me to collect any money from you neither my lawyer. At least 2 weeks rent and security deposit which is £ 500 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through the Money gram. 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.

Note that the transfer must be confirmed valid before the receiver picks up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.


I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy
+447031871731
email 3
OK!.I will be looking forward to reading from you tomorrow.After the transfer you will get back to me with the scan copy of the transfer receipt and i f you don't have a scanner to avoid time wasting you can as well write out the details as it is stated on the transfer receipt so that i can forward it to my lawyer for confirmation and after the confirmation of the transfer valid.I will send you an email to inform the receiver to go and pick up the money and thereafter we 'll schedule a convenient time with the viewing.Details needed on the transfer receipt are:

Senders name:
Receivers name:
Reference no 8 Digit:
Amount transferred:
Cos of the transfer:
Contact number:

I look forward to reading from you tomorrow.Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy

I received an e-mail from [email protected] today.

I orginally received an e-mail from "[email protected]" saying the following:

Hello, I've just seen your ad on Gumtree and I would like you to know that i have a Furnished one bedroom flat located in Bath.Comprising of large lounge with two seater sofa and dining table and chairs, good sized galley kitchen with cooker, washing machine and fridge. One double bedroom with double bed, two bedside tables and built in wardrobes, bathroom with shower over bath. Property benefits from allocated parking space and is well

I replied saying I was not interested in renting a whole flat. I then received this as a direct reply but sent from [email protected]:

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent £300 pcm : £ 75.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 400.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Bath?and do you have a contact number in which i can reach you?i will appreciate if you can get back to me with all this information. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy

this same text as above just mail is [email protected] and server location is in NL 195.78.85.141

Wish i found this earlier been scamed £400 thank god my husband got the 2nd payment back before she scammed us for that one. is there any chance you can get your first payment back. Wish she was caught.

Welcome to Scamwarners Claire, and I'm sorry you were scammed. It's not what you want to hear, but there's no chance if getting your money back, or the scammer being caught. Sorry. He's almost certainly in West Africa.

I was looking apartment to rent in Edinburgh, i send a message about my interesting of this apartment , this is a link : http://property.vivastreet.co.uk/rent+e ... r/98502170

and I get the same letters what i read here from email : [email protected]

Just sent this stuff to me too!!!!!! Cant believe i fell for it till they asked for money upfront, then i was like NO WAAAAAAY!

It looks like this fraudster is at it again - I answered a reply to a advert for a flat in Northampton and got the same e-mails as others on this site.
Thought I'd post it here as a warning to people that the scam is still ongoing and to be careful.
Here's the e-mail reply - alarm bells rang with me as soon as I seen the request for money before I even knew the actual location of the flat - but others might be sucked in by it all.
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Hello

Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat.My flat is a one bedroom flat,I and my husband have both agreed to have you in my flat and is located at Northampton Town Centre, Northamptonshire, NN1 1JW.,it is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view 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 Portishead to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work.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 UK,also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

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 or before making a reservation for any interested candidate. I would not ask you to send your bank statement neither your pay slip because it will be inappropriate for me to collect any money from you neither my lawyer. At least 1 month rent and the security deposit which is £500 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through the western union.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. Note that the transfer must be confirmed valid before the receiver picks up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Duffy
+447024093708

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We need to keep this going as a warning to other people.
Helenann56