RENTAL SCAM IN SINGAPORE!! PLS WARN OTHER PPL

Do not send any more money, period. You will never get any keys, because even if there is an apartment at the address you were given, the scammer does not own it.

Unfortunately, scammers have found loopholes in Western Union's practices, and they use those loopholes to collect money that isn't theirs every day. They have found ways to collect money sent to another country.
Other times, they have people (generally referred to as "mules") collect the money for them, often after convincing those people that they have a job processing payments for a legitimate business.

As far as the passport goes, the only thing you can be sure of is that it is not the scammer's. The scammer is most likely reusing the name and of a previous victim, and he simply sent you the passport copy he got from the victim.

It is immoral and shameful--but these scammers don't care. They are out for one thing--to steal other people's money--and they don't care what it takes to do it.

Ok, but I still don't understand. The money was taken in England or not at all?

Of course I don't send money anymore. I just want to keep it touch with her to enable the police to do something...

Are you sure for Nigeria? Cauz last time I have tried something to catch the position of the sender and it doesn't work at all. I've tried a couple of time and he gave me only one good answer!!! I did it with gmail/yahoo to my sister, me...

According to the IP address, this scammer is in Nigeria, and that's where your money went to. It is useless to keep on writing to this scammer, and the best thing is to cease contact. The police can't / won't do anything either, as the scammer lives in Nigeria.

The account details you quoted will be real jamie_paris

Name of Bank: Santander Bank
Name: Mr .N.Madzime
SORT CODE: 09-01-27
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 84129761
IBAN: GB07ABBY09012784129761
SWIFT: ABBYGB2LXXX

and it's an account wth the Abbey Bank plc in the UK, and after a little research i could probably hazard a guess at the full name. The question is whether the receiver is acting as a dupe or an associate, but it would be worthwhile reporting it to law enforcement in your country so that the account can be investigated. At the very least it should make it riskier for it to be used in any future scams.

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for the warning. I was also recently contacted from easyroommate by a scammer using the same email. Refer to text below.

The person is now calling themselves Lee Sin Ying email address is [email protected]


Hi,

Thanks for your mail,

My apartment is a three bedroom apartment located on 63 Paterson Road, 238539 Singapore, to be precise and I am looking for tenants for one or two of the rooms in the apartment. The apartment belongs to my Mother although she got it from my father after the demise of my Father last year.

The apartment is fully furnished and also the rooms am renting out so you might not need to come with any other furniture but if you intend coming with any stuff, let me know alright?... The apartment has a heating system, water, parking space, security, Electricity, Gas, Phone, Internet Connectivity (Broadband), You would have free and unlimited access to the kitchen, the store room, the guest room, and all areas and part of the house except my room ofcourse... You are also entitled to your own visitors.

The two rooms has the same amenities and are of the same size. The rent for the apartment and also the cost of the utility bills is $650. Once again, this includes the cost of the utilities as earlier mentioned. The apartment is centrally located and is just some minutes walk to the nearest bus station and also you would have easy and fast access to other locations.

You would also be required to pay a security deposit as is the custom, the security deposit would be refunded to you at the end of your stay in the apartment if nothing is destroyed by you during your stay in the apartment. The deposit is $1,100.

Each room has an air conditioner and there is also a washer and dryer in the apartment to wash your clothes. You can rent the apartment for as long as you want to.

About Me: My Name is Lee Sin Ying. I am a 26year old. I am the only child of my parents and I live alone in this apartment. This apartment used to be my family apartment till when my Dad moved us all to Bolton, UK where he eventually passed away but I alone stay here in the apartment and have being renting it out for sometime now. My last flatmate left for Croatia last week hence my search for new flatmates.

I am calm and laidback person and my hobbies are reading, swimming and also at times on fridays/weekend, I attend social events but I have not being having the opportunity dues to my work to hang out with my friends. I work as a marketing officer and when I am free I go to the pool to relax my mind and also unwind. I also visit the gym to keep fit at times..

Let me also know more about you because I believe it is essential that we get to know each other before we become flatmates. I shall be glad to send you pictures and also the contract so that we can conclude and be good flatmates.

I await to read your response.

Thank you for posting this new information armand.jose . Keeping current, is important in helping people who might fall victim to a scammer. We are glad that ScamWarners could be helpful!

Hi all,
Just want to said how lucky i am after view this post, i also get the same email from someone call Jana from Easy Room Mate Singapore but after reply her mail, other guys name Slack Simone reply me, below are the mail on 30-March 2011~~~>
Just wondering can we compliant to Easy Room Mate Singapore regarding this scam???

"My dear lovely potential flatmate, thanks for your prompt response regarding my posted ad and how was your night sleep and everything over there with you, let me take a little time to tell you something about myself, the room & its amenities, price and conditions to rent.

Why i am renting:
I live in a 3 bedroom flat like i told you but the 1room vacant which i am offering for rent is because my previous flatmates are through with there activities and work here and has gone back to there respective states and i have only one tenant presently who uses one of the rooms but left to her Country last week after using 2 weeks into the flat because of her mother health condition and has promised to return next month ending and she really need someone to share the place with soonest due to the loneliness she has been going through into the flat,that's why we brought the price so low regarding to all the amenities into the rooms.So, i need people who are fun to be with, people whom we could share times and moments together,not just minding your business or going into your room after the day....but you can always have your private time and affair if you so wish and desire

About myself
I am a young lady from United Kingdom who grew up abroad. I'm currently doing my masters in risk finance after work and this makes me return home late but can't stop having fun when its necessary. I am an accountant and thus work for s brooking firm here and also a consultant,so this makes me travel often which is the mere reason why i need and search good people as flatmates so i will be rest assured that my flat is in safe hands in my absence.You'll have free and unlimited access to all part of the apartment, the Kitchen, the living room except my room ) Your visitor are always welcome.

I got my first degree at London School of Economics, i worked in Paris as a senior accountant in a brooking firm before i went to the Barcelona to take a 3 months course in public marketing and to learn the Spanish cultures and languages.Did my internship with JT Morgan in New York in 2007.lol am living presently in London .what else can i say..i think when we have a chat..you will hear more..

Flat Amenities
A small fridge in each room
A big freezer in the kitchen
Each room has a big wardrobe
TV connected to a cable
A surround sound syste
Standard bed capable of sleeping two people
conveniently)
Private toilet and bathroom for each room(ensuite room)
Washer/dryer for you laundry needs
Air-condition and fire place to keep the room cool and warm
Gas cooker and micro wave oven available in the kitchen

Utilities included in the rent:
Water
Gas refill
Heater/warmer
Electricity bill
Laundry
Parking space
Internet via wireless lan
Trash pick up

Price:
I have a room for rent. The price is 450Sgd and monthly utilities charges of 50Sgd (Inclusive of council tax and internet charges) and a security deposit of 1000Sgd
Therefore:
Rent per month...........500Sgd
Security deposit..........1000Sgd

NB: The security deposit is refundable upon verification of the room which you rented to be in good order during your last day of move out from my apartment.

There is contract available for weekly, month to month and long term basis. If you want a long term rent contract, i will prefer an initial 3 months rent which is renewable 2weeks prior to the rent expiration. This is for us to get to know more about ourselves and see if we could live together happily as flatmate for a longer period.

Immediately i confirm your interest and knowing some things about you,I shall send to you the current pictures of your room and my flat in general with the kitchen and other pictures aswell before we proceed with the necessary details to prepare the tenement contract necessary for your move in.

Yours sincerely
Slack"

Welcome to Scamawarners chyun3

The person who wrote that mail is not an English person educated to the standard they claim chyun3, and it's clear that they're lying from the errors they make.

If you complain to Easy Room mate the scammer would just sign up again under a new identity the same day. All sites offering apartment rentals are filled with scam offers. Using ads to find a property is very risky nowadays and it's very risky to pay money beforehand unless you are very sure that the person isn't a scammer.

Wow!!! I'm glad, the information is useful!!!

you can trace them ? terrific.i can tell you some aupair scammer emailsaddress.
it's from a website , after i redistered i received a lot of scamming emails.

Thank you for posting this toybox, as it could safe others. This is a typical example of letters these scammers use. Even by reading the emails i can see this is an African scammer and i'm pretty sure he's never been in Singapore. There is a small chanche he's in England but my best guess is Nigeria. If you could post the full headers of these emails i could trace him.

Please take note of these scammers email addresses as well:
mathilde anquez <[email protected]>
wang Hse <[email protected]>

Recently, I've been looking for accomodation in Singapore and has posted an ad in share accomodation sg. The problem with this site is that to view ads of available rooms, I am forced to register and post an ad, which I did so that I can research on the area and the rental.

Few days after, I received 2 emails from 2 different people from the email addresses above. They both claimed that they have a rooms in a apartment to rent out, and have attached really nice pictures of the house interior. To make it more enticing, they included 'addresses' of the so-called apartment. Those are really nice luxury apartments with claims of full-fledged facilities. The suspicion came in when they mentioned the rent. The rent is too good to be real for such nice apartments. As a matter of fact, they quoted me SGD600 / SGD 700 which is similar to HDB Flats room rental? Totally unreal so I started speculating that there could be 2 reasons:
- this is a scam; OR
- the property bubble in SG is reaching a bursting point since apartment can be rented at the price of HDB room and people are desperately seeking flatmates to help finance their mortgage..?

Those were the questions I asked myself, so therefore I started investigating by googling the names they used and the addresses they sent to me and of couse, search for their identity in Facebook. And lucky enuf I stumbled across this website. From the addresses they sent me, one appeared to be a real property, but from google map...it is still being constructed. Another one, is the address of some govt environment building in SG. Bingo, confirmed its a scam.

Both emails sounds very convincing at first. But I'm really not that sort of person who will wired in money until I see the apartment in person and evaluate whether the person renting is really someone I could share a roof with. Also verify if they are the rightful owner thru their documentations incl. their identity which means I can only be convinced if I am allowed viewing.

I wrote to one of the email "[email protected]" asking for a viewing but of course that scammer didnt reply me. And the next day the same initial email she sent to me was SPAM to me again, which confirmed my suspicion that this scammer is really just spamming any unsuspicious people sincerely looking for a place to rent. As for the other one, I wrote to her telling her that I know she is a scammer and I've reported her to the police. She of course, did not reply me.

I feel I should share this here so that ppl can take note of the email addresses as well and really really checked it out in the internet space and do a viewing before transferring any money. Keys in mail is totally bollocks in my opinion. They used the same email template I see here claiming they are in UK, but used to live in the apartment they tried to rent. To me, if you have stayed in a place for some time..you would have a trustee that would allow you to view the place. So please be careful!!!

So I responded to this ad: http://singapore.gumtree.sg/c-Apartment ... Z273423904

And I got a very immediate reply:
Thanks for your response, I am Susan Hinklin the Wife of the owner of the 2 bedroom Apartment you are making inquiry of. We used to stay in the Apartment until we left for United States Of America for a construction job with Total/Elf, (I'm a construction engineer) and we are now Happily married and we are currently on our Honey Moon. we will be in Montana,USA for five years so presently our apartment is much available for rent and all utilities included, it is furnished and we don't mind "PETS". Pls i want you to note that, We are a kind and honest Couple and also we have spent a lot on our property, so i will solicit for your absolute maintainance of this apartment. Hope you understand that it is not the rent that is our problem but i want you to keep it tidy at all times, hope we have an understanding..

We want a tenant we can trust so i will ask for you to tell me more about yourself. We will be Staying in USA now that is why we have made up our mind to put up all our apartment for rent to whom ever that will take good care of it. Also how long do you intend to stay? How soon do you intend to move in?




DISTRICT : Jurong (609477 )
ADDRESS :- 1 Jurong East Street 32
CLOSET MRT: Chinese Garden (EW25)
RENT FEE : 1,265 per month (Inclusive )
DEPOSIT : $820 (refundable)

Amenities :-
Dishwasher, Dryer, Electric Stove, Freezer/Deep Freeze, Fridge, Microwave, Washer, Washer/Dryer Hookups, Water/Sewer ,Internet connectivity ,Cable
Interior:
Free Internet
Hardwood
Storage Area/Room
Walk-In Closets

I want you to provide answers to the application below:




*****RENT APPLICATION FORM*****
( Private and Confidential )

1)Your Full Name :-


2)Your Full Current Address :-


3)Phone Number & Mobile Number :-


4)How old are you :-


5)Sex :-


6)Are you Married :-


7)How many people will be living in the apartment :-


Do you have a Pet? :-


9)Do you have a Car? :-


10)Occupation? :-


11)What is your Religion? :-

12)Citizen of Which Country? :-


13)When are you ready to Move In? Exact Date? :-


14)How Many Months are you willing to rent the apartment? :-


15)How many months rent can you pay upfront? Minimum ( 1 month rent & Deposit = $2,085 ) or ( 2 months rent & Deposit =$3,350 & you get (1) month free ) .so which option do you prefare????


IF YOUR OKAY WITH THIS,FILL THE APPLICATION FORM AND TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOURSELF AND HOW YOU CAN TAKE GOOD CARE OF THE APARTMENT.
Thanks for taking your time in writing me and hope to hear back from you.


Thanks


Mr & Mrs Hinklin

They attached 4 pics of the apartment. Then I responded with the form, only to get a reply within 30 minutes:


Thanks very much for your reply,am very sorry for my late reply and also I can see your willingness in my property . I and my husband are so much happy that your application is been approved and accepted as our new tenant. we have decided to let you live in our apartment. However, if you are ready to rent the property now or that mid-end May then that will not be a problem, but we will advise you to provide the deposit and the first month rent to hold the Apartment before your movin date, and we will send the keys and document of the apartment to you via the DHL to the address you send to me and the tracking number will be sent to you. Please once again,we are giving you this on trust and do not disappoint us, and I promise you that you will love the apartment. So I am with the below document here with me, and I will like to know whether you are ready for the deposit payment.


Here are the contents of the document.

1)Entrance and the rooms Keys

2)Paper/Permanent house form(Containing your reference details)

3)The house documentary file.

4)Payment Receipt.

5)Full address and description of the house

We will send the keys and document of the apartment to you via the DHL to the address you send to me and the tracking number will be sent to you also so that you can go and view the inside and the interior part of the apartment and if it not Okay by you we can proceed and if it is not okay then i will refund back your money as soon as possible...Let me know if I can forward my details for you to send the deposit through any western union money transfer store closer to you..If you can make the payment today,you will be able to get the keys by 9am on the 21st of April so that you can be able to go anytime and view the apartment before your movin date.

So please get back to me today so we can move forward.

Regard and God Bless You

Thanks,


Mrs Hinklin

All these started to sound fishy to me so I did some googling on rental scams and found this site.......Hope this helps you all!!

Thanks for posting szelyn.
Can you please post up the email address that the scammer used.
Thanks.

Hi there

This is the email that was used: [email protected]

When I replied to say that I was not comfortable with the arrangement and I'd rather that he/she appoint a trustworthy friend to do the house viewing, this was the reply I received:

Thanks very much for your reply.. The property is fully funidhed 2bedroom apartment, I want you to know that you can't view the unit because am with the keys here and all my family are here with me and i dont deal with anybody except my family.None member of my church are available for now to handle the transction for me, and you will have to make the first month rent and deposite payment first to have keys of apartment for you in other for you to go and view and if it not Okay by you we can proceed and if it is not ok then i will refund back your money. The keys and document of the apartment to you via the DHL to the address you send to me and the tracking number will be sent to you..

Definitely dodgy - does not deal with anyone apart from family but is willing to rent an apartment to a complete stranger?

Even if you aren't in a position to view the apartment it's worth asking to do it it as a scammer will always think of a reason why they can't do it, and you can draw your own conclusions.

It just isn't credible that a landlord goes abroad and doesn't have anyone local with keys to the apartment to pick up mail and look over it, and who then says they'll post keys to a stranger.

A scammer could double bluff you, but then if you have a work colleague, university friend or relative you could accept the offer.

I only suggest it as a way to 'weed out' offers that are a waste of time pursuing.