Room for Rent Scammer - [email protected]

Thanks guys!

Google his name and found this!

He's still around.

Used: Jose Miguel Jimenez Medina <[email protected]>

and advertised on vivastreet

Thanks again for this site

And thank you, bobalize, for the additional email address and name combination that this scammer is using.

And welcome to ScamWarners, too!

Hi,

I have had exactly the same scripted emails sent to me when looking for a house.
Only now the guy is calling himself John Armstrong! His email is [email protected].

He replied to my ad on a website and even sent me pictures which I was suspicious of as they look like a property abroad. He asked for money transfers and receipts to be scanned and sent to him and this time he even put his contact number!! His emails are as follows. DO NOT GIVE THIS GUY THE TIME OF DAY! [color=#8040FF]




What you have to provide is very simple,I am just in need of a confirmation proof,And these is due to some previous predicament that i have gone through in the past,Trying to rent the property to some student,I have got to realize so many people are not really in need of a property at the moment,All they do is secure a place in advance,My last experience in trying to rent the property to a particular lady,Got me to predicate on these,She made me believe she was willing and ready to get the property,She even went to the extend of showing me her statement of account,Which made me took her for the viewing,But after taking her for the viewing,She saw the property and got to love it and never wanted to loose it,So she kept pleading i retain it for her because she wasn't financially composed at the moment,Which i did because i did pity are situation,But it all ended up disastrously.
So basically for me to be sure of you been willing and ready to get the property i will implore you walk into any Western Union or Money Gram outlet and send the total bill to any of your friend or your partner via Western Union or Money Gram,Or your partner should send it to you,All i need is for you to get back to me with a scan copy of the receipt issued to you after making the transaction so i can confirm it,And as soon as i can confirm these i will get back to you immediately,And then your partner can go and withdraw the money back for you,But i have to confirm it first,After this we can have a rendezvous to meet right immediately and view the property,I hope you understand,Well you can call me if you need me to explain better,07024029908,Thanks.

Regards

John

--- On Thu, 6/3/10> wrote:


From: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: PROPERTY DETAILS.....: 2 bedroom flat
To: "'John Armstrong'" <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010, 12:42 PM

Hi John ,

This seems a peculiar request, before we have even seem a property or know it’s location. Frankly, we would not be enquiring about a property if we weren’t looking and our ability to pay the rent is not relevant [/color]until we agree on taking a property, when you are entitled to carry out the necessary check prior to signing a tenancy.



From: John Armstrong [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 03 June 2010 13:31
To: mebs
Subject: RE: PROPERTY DETAILS.....: 2 bedroom flat



There will be no problem viewing the property,I am always available any time after 4pm during the week days and any time during the week end,so just fix a precise date and time and let me know,But before then i will have to be sure of you been willing and ready to get the property and perhaps been capable of the rent bill,so i will need a proof before then.

Regards

John

Hi,
I have recently found another few scammers trying to get you to transfer money via western union BEFORE even looking at properties!! Some names include John Armstrong, Dr Robert Studd , Mr Morales and now Michelle Brehn.
The properties advertised show pictures taken from other sites on the net (the scammers can cut & paste)!!!
They look too good to be true and show properties that could NEVER be in the areas advertised! Trust me, I used to be a letting agent!!!
Beware of scams! Dont transfer any money!

Below are the recent emails from Michelle:

Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat. I spoke with my lawyer on phone concerning your stay in my flat and we both agreed to have you in my flat as long as you'll take good care of my flat as how it is. However, 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 Cardiff, 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 1 month rent and security deposit which is £ 400 which is refundable after your 1 month stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western union money 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.+447024018949


Regards
Mr/Mrs Brehn

This same nasty piece of work tried to the exact same thing to me and my partner.
Literally got those same emails, THANKFULLY i googled his name when he sent me his passport - in reassurance that we could trust him - which was out of date and in hindsight probably fake.

We were at the stage when my partner had sent the Western Union money £1380 (two months 'rent' and one month 'deposit') to me and we'd emailed this man the receipt -though thankfully we had covered up the MTCN and receipt number, at which point he said he needed the MTCN number to see for sure that the money was there, and started getting really ancy and pressuring us and sent us his passport, I was just about to call Western Union and ask to see if they could tell me if giving that to him would be safe or not, when i googled his name on a whim.

So Thankyou very much you lot for sharing, you saved me a hideous Summer of slaving for nothing and possibly more. (so so sorry to read that some of you lost out to him, he deserves a punishing big time.) By the way is there nothing that can be done? I still have a copy of his (possibly fake) passport, could it be traced? I feel like he's just going to keep doing this and succeeding half the time and the world doesn't that kind of morale decline.

Stay Safe Honest People.

Hi Thankful, welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad you have realised the scam before losing any money, well done, it makes what we do all worthwhile

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done besides what we are currently doing;
Make as many people aware of scams as possible
Educate and inform people about scams
Provide the details of as many scammers as possible
Waste teh scammer's time where we can

Because the scammers operate from another country, your own police will be powerless and the police from the scammer's location are often corrupt if they had the time to investigate the crime of bringing money into their country's poor economy, arrests do happen but they are extremely rare and teh scammers know it.

As for the ID, I will PM an email address to you if you would like to send it to me I can make sure we do what we can with it.

If you have any questions please ask

Hi there,

Thanks to this website we were able to preempt a scam by DR ROBERT IAN STUDD OF IRELAND.

We posted a wanted ad on gumtree and within minutes received an email from this guy.

You have received a reply to your Gumtree posting from <[email protected]>:

Hello,
I stumbled into your ad while searching for some other item. I have a vacant property right there at Amersham
I'm willing to give it out for rent and am sure you will love it when you see its pictures.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Robert Ian Studd

Seemed too good to be true but we replied asking for more info. Again within minutes we received another email as follows:

Hello,

I'm glad to hear from you, I'm sure you will love the apartment when you view it physically. I have attached some more recent pictures. They were taken a month ago soon after i completed the renovation.

I am a bit selective when it comes to the tenancy of the apartment because of past experiences such as abuse of facilities, rent payment disorders etc. Hence I will appreciate if you tell me more about yourself and a reference from past landlord. I'm a Surgeon by profession and I'm based here with my family in Dublin, Ireland and I want to rent my property to someone trustworthy. I did put the house for rent not just for financial purposes but I need someone that will also take proper care of it.

The apartment like I said is newly renovated and that cost me some fortune, I will appreciate if you take proper care of it. I will rent the apartment to you for the sum of 620 GBP pcm (All Bills Included) & Deposit of 480 GBP. I hope that fits into your budget.

If you're comfortable with this please get back to me so we can arrange a date for the viewing.

Cheers,
Robert Studd (Dr.)

In the meantime, I googled this guy's name and found this website so thank you so much for logging this information and helping us to avoid a scam!!

Hi,

Thanks very much. I posted an ad looking for a flat to rent on gumtree. I received the following email:


Hello,
I stumbled into your ad while searching for some other item. I have a vacant property right there at Manchester
I'm willing to give it out for rent and am sure you will love it when you see its pictures.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Robert Ian Studd


The scammer then asked me to use Western Union to transfer £1,000.

Thanks to your site for flagging this up. I won't admit i know he's the scammer in case he changes his name.

Cam

Hi Cam, welcome to Scamwarners

Thanks for the extra information and for not telling the scammer anything about what you now know.

It sounds like you are well sorted but if you have any questions please ask

Removed email from member

From: Ian Studd <[email protected]>
To: Removed
Sent: Sun, 27 June, 2010 18:02:05
Subject: Re: Reply to your ad: Wanted - 2 bedroom flat in Leith

Hello Removed

Nice hearing from you once more. As I said earlier, I didn't intend renting it out, its just somewhere we stay when I and my family come to London. We haven't been there for a while hence the facilities there were not being looked after that's why I need a trustworthy person to occupy and look after it.

I must confess am impressed with your little introduction as it gives me an insight into your personality, your background and probably your level of education. This is satisfactory and i guess I'm forced to consider you as you strike me as a reserved and well behaved individual.

Viewing it wouldn't be a problem but I doubt if I will be able to make it today because I have a surgery to perform on a patient by evening. Perhaps Monday will be a bit more convenient and I hope it fits into your schedule perfectly.

I await your response in the affirmative so I will also contact my solicitor on the progress so far so that She can prepare the necessary contractual documents. I shall come in company of my solicitor. If after viewing, you are satisfied with what you see and you wish to pay, some contractual documents will be signed in the presence of my solicitor and thereafter I will hand you the keys to the property. I want it this quick so that I will be able to dash back to Dublin and get on with my busy schedule.


Best,
Robert Studd (Dr.)

Removed email sent by member

From: Ian Studd <[email protected]>
To: Removed
Sent: Sun, 27 June, 2010 17:29:10
Subject: Re: Reply to your ad: Wanted - 2 bedroom flat in Leith

Hello Removed

I'm glad to hear from you, I'm sure you will love the apartment when you view it physically. I have attached some more recent pictures. They were taken a month ago soon after i completed the renovation.

I am a bit selective when it comes to the tenancy of the apartment because of past experiences such as abuse of facilities, rent payment disorders etc. Hence I will appreciate if you tell me more about yourself and a reference from past landlord. I'm a Surgeon by profession and I'm based here with my family in Dublin, Ireland and I want to rent my property to someone trustworthy. I did put the house for rent not just for financial purposes but I need someone that will also take proper care of it.

The apartment like I said is newly renovated and that cost me some fortune, I will appreciate if you take proper care of it. I will rent the apartment to you for the sum of 620 GBP pcm (All Bills Included) & Deposit of 480 GBP. I hope that fits into your budget.

If you're comfortable with this please get back to me so we can arrange a date for the viewing.

Cheers,
Robert Studd (Dr.)

Removed email from member

From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: Not sure what I am removing but i think it is another email address of member
Sent: Sun, 27 June, 2010 16:42:19
Subject: Reply to your ad: Wanted - 2 bedroom flat in Leith

Hi there Removed, you have received a reply to your Gumtree posting "Wanted - 2 bedroom flat in Leith" (ad# 61142161) from <[email protected]>:

Hello,
I stumbled into your ad while searching for some other item. I have a vacant property right there at Leith Edinburgh
I'm willing to give it out for rent and am sure you will love it when you see its pictures.
Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,
Robert Ian Studd

I also posted a "2 Bedroom Flat for Rent Wanted"-type advert on Gumtree just yesterday afternoon and received the same initial reply from the infamous Dr. Robert Ian Studd of Dublin.

I was immediately suspicious but replied to the first Email anyways thinking that the man perhaps just wasn't good at writing Emais. As you can see, when asked where in Leith (my preferred area) the property was, he completely dodged the question and if you could see the pictures he sent me of the property, I know you would agree that the place looked like something outta MTV cribs - gorgeous but too good to be true and there was NO WAY IN HELL the place was in Leith. I doubt it was even in Edinburgh. I was also suspicious that the man seemed to have no issues with the fact that I am a smoker (I mentioned this in the original ad but neglected to reiterate it in the subsequent Emails), have a cat and most imporantly would be a DHSS tenant - you usually find that most responisble hard-working landlords don't accept DHSS tenants, and those that do are very very very careful about which ones they give their property to. I reiterated all of these things to him, just to see what he'd say but yet he was all ready to meet me the very same day or today to make arrangements and just hand over the keys. Yeah, right. I actually don't think he even had a clue what DHSS meant. One of the main things that made me laugh in spite of the seriousness of the situation was that he mentioned that the property was in London after telling me it was in my preferred area of Edinburgh. He really didn't do his homework, did he?

So, yeah I knew pretty much right away it was some kind of scam. To be fair, he didn't ask me to wire any money or anything (perhaps I cut him off before he got to that) but he just seemed far too eager to meet me and I feared for my safety so in the end I reported him to Gumtree and sent him one final Email politely saying thanks but no thanks. And then the cheeky sod got nasty!!!!

I spent all last night totally rattled over this situation. Luckily I had him all figured out very early on, but some people might not and the fact that he's been doing this for so long to so many other people and sometimes getting away with it really sickens me.

I am glad that I found this Forum and that I have been able to share my own experience with you all and let you know that he's still out there. I am considering contacting the police, however I don't know if they'll do anything because I wasn't actually scammed in the end. What do you all think?

Some tidying and lots of member details removed - Ralph

Thanks for that, Ralph. I feel silly for not having removed those details myself now however I'm new here as you'll you.

Hi Emmanem, welcome to Scamwarners,

I have removed a lot of content from your post, now as I type I see you have responded, no problem at all.

This scammer will more than likely be operating from Africa where your local police will not be able to do anything to stop him.

You could report him to the advertising site and they may delete his post but again in reality he will have a replacement add soon after.

The best way to slow them down is exactly what you have already done, report their emails and details, then tell family and friends, I am presuming you started that already

If you have any questions please ask

Indeed I have. I didn't actually discover this thread until this morning and in fact it is only because I spoke of the situation to a couple of friends of mine that I was made aware of Scamwarners' existance. One of the afore-mentioned friends did just what I should have done right away if I'd had any sense and Googled the scammer's alias and Email. I didn't think of that at the time though. Gotta love the internet, haven't you - simultaneously the most wonderful and most terrible invention ever.

Thank you for your advice. Indeed you are probably right - I could go to the police but if there is nothing they can do I wouldn't like to feel as though I were wasting their time.

By telling the police they may or may not take an interest, if they did it would most likely be for statistical purposes only.

They simply dont have huge amounts of time and resources to spend on Advanced fee fraud.

I always try to look at the bright side, it works better for me that way.

You didn't lose any money and you have learnt lots about online fraud, you will not only be able to keep yourself much safer from scams but you will also be able to help a friend who may need advice about scams one day.

Just remember if you ever have any questions you can always come back and ask.

Absolutely - I wholeheartedly agree with everything you've just said. Thanks again.