Room for Rent Scammer - [email protected]

I am so glad I found this article!

I have been in contact with this man/person since yesterday (he has been using the name Dr. Robert Ian Studd in emails to me) and I couldn't believe my luck! However an email that I received from him today raised my suspicions!

He emailed me requesting that I transfer money to a friend or family member of mine using western money transfer BEFORE the viewing... I didn't like the idea of that, so i googled his name and found this site.

After reading previous comments from your members, I have realised that he has also avoided several of my questions. Fortunately I began having second thoughts as soon as I woke this morning. It sounded too good to be true and as it happens it was!

Another thing I am fortunate for is that the initial payment for my new house is being supplied by my dad, who didn't like the sound of this as soon as I mentioned it, and therefore, I know he wouldn't have supplied the funds.

I hope nobody else gets sucked into this trap, and I have posted a warning on my facebook profile to ensure that no-one I know gets caught! However I would like a little advice as to what to do next, this person has my email address and I am worried what information he can glean from that and i also have not replied to him since I googled his name so any thoughts on what to put in a final email to him would help. Any advice here would be welcome.

I hope that something can be done about this idiot soon but in the meantime I will let everyone I know to avoid him. I hope he gets what he deserves!

Welcome, loulou & thanks for posting here. It's good that you had enough suspicion to search for the name & found us!

this person has my email address and I am worried what information he can glean from that

There nothing to worry about! Basically, all he has is your name & email addy, he cannot trace you from that (as he's in a inet cafe inWest Africa) & once he realises he's not going to get any money from you, he will move on to someone else!

For that reason, the best advice we can give is to NOT reply to him, certainly do not tell him you know that he's a scammer - just totally drop him (block his addy, if possible) & know that your posting has added to helping others avoid his attempts.

Hi loulou88, welcome to Scamwarners.

I am very happy to hear you have managed to avoid being scammed, well done.

I have posted a warning on my facebook

Facebook can be a wonderful tool (apparently) for social networking, it is also a great way for a scammer to get information from potential victims or indeed a was for scammers and undesirables to meet new people, in Australia recently there was a case of a young women lured through facebook to an interview, she was subsequently murdered, please be extrememly careful of what you post about yourself online, you never know who will be reading it.

a little advice as to what to do next,

This is the easy bit, simply ignore any further attempts to contact you and discuss this with family and friends, who knows, it may help them as well

this person has my email address and I am worried what information he can glean from that

While this is not ideal it basically means you will likely by targeted by further scam emails, dont reply to them either

what to put in a final email to him would help.

Another easy one, no final email

I see Crispy has already replied so I will let you read what is here already, if you have any more questions please ask

Thank you ever so much!

I was just curious as to what your views where on approaching a British national news channel or paper is? I think others need to be forewarned of this.

Thank you again! Your advice and support is most appreciated

There is never any harm in getting the media interested, it is the best way to get the word out

Thank you Ralph.
I'll see if I can get any of the national papers etc. interested, this person needs to be stopped in his tracks. If I hadn't have had a moment of clarity I may well have ended up a true victim of his tricks.

oh and before i forget, I noticed that a comment said that this man doesn't use a script. When I was scrolling through the comments a few moments ago, I noticed that a previous member had posted an email quoting what the scammer has emailed to the member. It was exactly the same, with the exception of days etc., as an email I have received from the scammer (see below) so perhaps he does revert to a script occasionally ??

Thank you again Scamwarners...

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.)

My girlfriend and I were a bit wary about sending a money transfere to a Dr Robert Studd who claimed to live in Ireland and was a surgeon, what a load of crap. After googling his name up popped this site ! Lets hope he gets caught soon people.
Jay & Amz

Hi Jason, welcome to Scamwarners.

I am glad you found teh truth before losing any money to the scam, wel done.

Do you have any details that are not posted here already, if you do could you please add them here.

Many people are saved from being scammed after doing a search and finding information on their scammer, the more information we have the more likely it is that somebody will find the truth before being scammed.

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

I am currently still in contact with this guy on yet another email address and this property is for Portsmouth,

My fiancé and I were looking for a place and found this add on http://www.olx.org.uk and I've been suspicious from the get go as it sounded too good to be true and I've found in life that if something sounds too good to be true then 99.99% of the time it is, so I did a bit of digging to see if I could get any info on the guy and I came across your web site,

I hope you can find this guy and get him done as this is disgraceful, although we avoided this I noticed many have been caught out by the scumbag and there are probably a lot of other people that haven't reported it,

Is there anymore that can be done to catch him as like I said I'm still in contact with him (via my fiancés' email) he has asked for me to make the transfer via Western Union and I have replied as he sent different photo's and a different location to what was advertised on the web page, I've been specific yet subtle so that I don't let on that I've found out but I would really like this guy to get done,

Please let me know if there is anything I can do to catch this guy,

Kind Regards

Mike Bird.

Hello mbird1985, and welcome to ScamWarners.

I'm glad that you have realised that you and your fiancé were corresponding with a scammer, and that you avoided losing any money to him.

The scammer will be using a fake name, and a disposable email address, set up with false information. He is probably in a different country to where the property is advertised (a lot of scammers are located in West Africa), and using an anonymous internet café - so, unfortunately, it will be next-to-impossible to trace him. And, even if he were traced, his local law enforcement are unlikely to be interested in arrested him.

So, the best thing we can do is warn other people about such scammers, and therefore it would be very useful for others if you would post some of the scammer's emails to you (make sure to remove your own name and email address from them) - with headers for the first one, if possible, so that anyone who searches on this information can find it.

Please do not continue corresponding with the scammer, now that you realise that it is a scam. He will have your real information, and you would not want him to realise that you were stringing him along and wasting his time. Just stop replying to his emails (there's no need to explain why to him), and he will stop writing also, in a short while.

2010/7/22 *************************
From: ***************************

# Location: Portsmouth, England, United Kingdom
# Date Posted: June 13
# Price: £460

Hi i saw your advert for this 2bedroomed apartment.
Question is it actually £460 a month for the place or is it per person.
It is a beautiful apartment.
How much is the deposit?

Thanks for you time

*****************
This message is regarding:
http://portsmouth.olx.org.uk/spacious-2 ... d-95591732

Thank you for using OLX,
The OLX Team

If you ever need support or have comments for us contact our Customer Service Team

________________________________________
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:13:05 +0300
Subject: Re: Spacious 2 bed apartment.
From: [email protected]
To: *****************************

Hello,
My name is Miguel Jimenez and I am from Spain and the flat is still available for rent. I had an aunt in UK and after her death she left me her apartment from UK a few years ago.
The flat was redecorated last year and the flat is looking very nice and clean. The property has a fully furnished kitchen,clean and well tidy sitting rooms,laundry room,and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge,Vacuum Cleaner,Toaster, Owen and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready,TV set and DVD player,Internet connection, equipped kitchen and everything a house needs. I m interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.
Till last month the apartment was rented by some students from Germany and now they left and the apartment is available again for rent. The price I want is £460 per month,bills included and I am intrested in a long term agreement,minimum 6 month!
If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat(I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person from Portsmouth told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Portsmouth to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no person showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologises if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!

I will wait for your e-mail,Miguel Jimenez
________________________________________
2010/7/23 ********* <*************>
Hello Miguel

I’m sorry to hear that about your auntie.

Me and my Fiancé are definitely interested as we would like our own place,
We are currently living with his parents which is nice but we need our own space as I'm sure you can understand,
Looking at the pictures it looks amazing I do have a few questions though, what area in Portsmouth is this located in, is there any parking available although neither of these things are essential. I was just wondering as my Fiancé drives and finally we own a cat and wonder if you would allow a pet in the property.
Also there is one major question. Would it be possible to hold it down till the end of next month as we wont be getting paid till then?


I hope this isnt too many questions.
We have been looking for places and havent found the right one as most places are asking for alot of money for deposit too. which is making us hold back longer.


Thanks again for your time.

******
________________________________________
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:40:34 +0300

Subject: Re: Spacious 2 bed apartment.
From: [email protected]
To: ******************

Hello,

I will attach some pictures of the flat,floor plan and also a model of the rental contract! The flat is located on Queen Street PORTSMOUTH PO1 3HL but I can`t give you the exactly address because there`s no one living out there and I`m afraid of thief's and I do apologies for this but I hope you understand me because I`m in Spain right now! The property benefits from access to beautifully maintained communal gardens and comprises reception room, kitchen with washing machine/tumble dryer, master bedroom with fitted wardrobes and en suite bathroom, second bedroom with fitted wardrobe and bathroom.
In the kitchen there is a dishwasher and also a Big fridge freezer! Regarding the council tax I can tell you that it is included in the price of £460 per month and also Sky TV,internet broadband,gas and electricity are also included in this price! I am intrested in a minimum six month agreement and I request two months advance rent payment plus one month refundable deposit (£460) wich you will get it back at the end of the contract.
Regarding the plummets and all that kind of stuff I can tell you that the flat was recently renovated and all electrical part and plummets are new so that won`t be necessary any repairs anyway I have a person who can manage this starting from June.
We can sign the rental contract starting from next weekend but I need to be sure that you have serious intentions in renting the flat that`s why I attach here a model of the rental contract and also we can discuss the terms when we will meet!
If you are decided to view the flat let me know because there is another person interested in reserving it and its fair to let him know too!
Regards
________________________________________
2010/7/26 ******* <***********>

hello again.

Yes we would very much like to view the flat? would saturday be ok with you?you pick a time, it will be fine by us?
will be looking forward to viewing it.

Thanks
________________________________________
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:33:38 +0300

Subject: Re: Spacious 2 bed apartment.
From: [email protected]
To: *******************

Hello again,
We could meet and maybe sign the tenancy agreement on Saturday but you see these is due to previous predicament that I have gone through in the past trying to rent the property to some students,I have got to realize so many people are not really in need of an apartment all they do is secure a place in advance, My last experience in trying to rent the property to a particular lady had got me to predicate on these,she made me believe she was willing and ready to get the apartment 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 apartment and got to love it and never wanted to loose it,so she kept pleading i retain it for her because she is not financially composed at the moment,which i did but end up disastrously.
So basically for me to be sure of you been willing and ready to get the apartment I will employ you walk into any Western Union outlet and send the total bill cash £1380(two months rent and one month refundable deposit) to your partener`s name(NOT to ME),or your partener should send it to you with location of Portsmouth,All I need is for you to get back to me with the receipt issued to you after making the transaction so I can confirm it! When we will meet in person to sign the papers we will go together to Western Union and you or your partner will withdraw the cash and pay me in hand or you can pay me on Monday by bank transfer! I just need to see that you do have the money available and you do have serious intentions in renting the flat! If the Western Union agent will ask you about the receiver you should tell him that is your cousin because the transfer fees will be cheaper! Anyway I will pay for it either you take the flat or not! I will book the flight for Saturday as soon as I have your positive answer because I can come only in weekends!
I do apologise for that but as I told you last time when I arrived to Portsmouth to show the flat to a person everything was a stupid joke and I hope you understand me because I don`t want to waste my time and money on plane tickets..
Regards,Miguel Jimenez

________________________________________

This is where I realised it was a scam and continued with my Fiancés email to contact to see if they would mess up and they did straight away with the name! (Highlighted below)________________________________________

2010/7/26 ********** <************>
That's not a problem I will arrange for the transfer and receipt as soon as possible,

I do have one query though, why is it that the location and photo's you have posted on the website are different to the location and photo's you attached to the email?

Also I noticed on the agreement you emailed me it states no pets of any kind but as I previously said we have a cat and need to know if there is any possibility of having a cat in the property as she is a very much loved cat and we really do not want to have to let her go,

Thanks

*******

________________________________________

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:25:30 +0300

Subject: Re: Spacious 2 bed apartment.
From: [email protected]
To: ***********************

Hi.

The add was posted by a friend of mine who place d the address wrong! I sent you the right location and photos and there s no problem with your pets as long as you will take care of the flat! I will try to come this weekend if you could make the Money Gram transaction tommorrow or latest Friday morning so I could have time to buy the flight ticket! If you can t, we will meet next weekend!!
Please note that I didn t asked for any kind of advance payment and the main reason I asked you that is the fact that I can come only in weekend when the banks are closed and some Money Gram agents are open 24hours! Regarding the Money Gram transaction its pretty simple and the sender should have his valid ID and cash ready when we will visit the agency! There s no need for both persons to be ready when you make the transaction because the receiver of the money will cash out the founds as soon as we meet and sign the tenancy agreement! Please don t forget when you will go to the Money Gram Office to wire the money sometimes they ask you why are you doing that and if you tell them you want make the payment for renting a flat,when the receiver picks up the money he must pay another fees and if you don't want to pay anything else you must tell the Money Gram clerk that you will send the money to a relative who needs the money!
Please send me a close up picture of the receipt as soon as you made the transaction and have the receipt so I could buy the flight ticket in time!

Best regards,Dilya Kudratova________________________________________

2010/7/26 ***************** <*******************>

Thankyou for your reply Dilya,

But I thought I was dealing with Miguel?

________________________________________
From: Manuel Jose Jimenez Medina ([email protected])
Sent: 26 July 2010 13:56:53
To: ************ (********************)
Hello,

My girlfriend Dilya wrote my last e mail! I am sorry for that! I was told her what to write in my place:) I appologise for her mistake!

Regards,Miguel

________________________________________

This is last message I received from them,
I really wish that there was something that could be done about this, I know it helps with this website and posting the messages but it would be better if we could stop them completely
By the way the name ‘Dilya Kudratova’ on that previous message I found out is an alias they are using to do the exact same scam apart from she’s in RUSSIA and had an auntie die in the UK,
I hope this helps people avoid these sons of *******!