Room for rent scammer - [email protected]

Known as Mark Billy.

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat its well furnished. My flat is still available for rent and you can rent 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 : £ 126.00 Per wk 504 per month
Minimum Stay : 1 month 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

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? Can i have a look at of your identity? How many months do you intend to rent and pay for? Do you have references in Newcastle? 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. 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 (504GBP) and security deposit which is (500GBP) which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat and the total amount will be (1004GBP) to proof you are capable to rent my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer or any money transfer outlet around you. You can make the transfer with your name as a sender name and your partner OR family member as a receiver. Once you have done this, you can scan the receipt to me, and if you do not have scanner, you may write out the details on the receipt as i will forwards it to my lawyer to verify on the online website, after verification, then we proceed for viewing and if my flat is okay for you then you will go and pickup the money back and pay for the rent and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer. I will be looking forwards to read from you soon, for any further question....07024013572 and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.
Regards,
Mr Billy.

This person asks 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 payment to a friend or family member.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, this person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union and they will send the keys through a courier company.

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 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.

Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:12:39 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: A well furnished One bedroom flat in Brighton 125GBP per week all bill incl
To: Michelle

Thanks for the swift reply.I wouldn't want you to get me wrong, the idea of making a confirmation of your financial ability is not only my idea, my lawyer and i decided to use these process and i can't violate my lawyer procedure.

However,i didn't want to collect any money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat. All what i request of you is to transfer the deposit to someone close to you in UK premises via Western Union Money transfer. Once the transfer is done, you will get back to me with a scan copy of the transfer receipt so that i can forward it to my lawyer to confirm if the transfer is valid and available in your friend custody.

After the confirmation might have been made by my lawyer, i will ask you to tell your friend to pick up the money and schedule a convenient day for the viewing. If eventually you don't want to proceed with the rent, i promise to return the cost of the transfer without any deduction.

Regards!
Billy.
Address; 47 Sydney Street, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 4EP

Hi,

unfortunately I have understood that it was a froud only after the payment of a reservation deposit to rent a flat in Leeds by Western Union. I found the AD on GUMTREE. He asked me the payment of 1 month and the security deposit (for about 1000 pounds), at the end we agreed for only £150 pounds as reservation deposit.

Here his answer after that he picked up the money from Western Union:

Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:07:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mark Billy <[email protected]>
To:
Subject: Re: Reply to your ad: A well furnished One bedroom flat in Leeds 110GBP per week all bill incl All headers

I receive a call from my lawyer concerning the previous transfer you made.he said the transfer is too small to know your financial ability to rent my flat.More so my lawyer have an interested candidate that wanted to rent my flat and ready to pay for the full rent upfront but i disagreed because of your sincere interest you have in my flat.

However,My lawyer ask me to inform you that you should proceed with the transfer of 2 month rent in other to confirm with the previous transfer you made,You can make the transfer with your name as the sender and your partner name as the receiver to my flat address in Leeds..Kindly let me know when you get this done in other to proceed with the Reservation in time.

Regards

Welcome here Berritella.

Unfortunatly you came here because you got suspicious after you made a payment to the scammer, but at least it's not 2 months rent that you've payd. THanks for posting this!

I've just received an e-mail from him as well. Looks like he's still at it.

Date: Sun, 5 Sep 2010 14:30:08 -0700
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Reply to your ad: Perfect and Neat onebedroom flat in brighton hove

Thank you for the interest you have in my flat, My flat is still available for rent.It is a fully furnished flat with internet connection, parking space,central heating, laundry and satellite and also available for short and long term renting.Here are the fees :rent and security deposit.

Rent : £ 100.00 per wk 400 per month
Minimum Stay : 1 month 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? How many months do you intend to rent and pay for? Do you have references in Brighton ? Kindly let me know when you will be able to come for the viewing of the flat.I will be looking forward reading back from you and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.
Regards
Billy.


Thanks to you guys for orignially posting this. Makes avioding scams for us others much easier.

Cheers,

Nick