by Stanley Rodriguez
Thu Feb 18, 2016 3:14 pm
I hope you guys can help me, because I think I'm getting scammed right now. I'm a student in Denmark who was looking for an apartment until I stumbled across one that I actually liked a lot. Therefore, I contacted the owner of the apartment, who turned out to be a lady that supposedly lives in the UK (she claims that she's British) hence why she's renting out the apartment. Well we began conversing through some emails until it got to a point where I thought "This seems a bit shady", which is why I started investigating the case a little further. I wanted to know whether or not this woman was scammer or not. Firstly, I found out that the owner of the apartment has the same name as the one sending me the mail, which calmed me a bit. Secondly, I went by the apartment and rang the door a lot of times. No one answered and the apartment seemed to be empty (no lights were on). I actually did this 3 days in a row. Thirdly, I couldn't find this woman on any social media site, but then again not every person uses those.
Based on the three above-mentioned results; I decided to respond to this person, who I actually haven't seen or met due to the fact that she's supposedly residing in the UK with her family. Hereafter, I asked her if we could meet in order to get all the paperwork done. She responded by this: "Last week I found someone who wanted to rent my apartment, but when I got there, he no longer responded to my calls, maybe he changed his mind, but I have lost two tickets and two working days. We can not meet to view the apartment because I do not want to risk losing any more money and time, so I decided to leave the keys and the lease contract to www.airbnb.com, and they will take care of everything". - This seemed very suspicious to me, but me being stupid, I continued the conversation. She thereafter sends me this message:
"The reservation will be made through the site www.airbnb.com and they will handle the deal. Airbnb is asking for the first month's rent which is 4000 DKK + 8000 DKK deposit (12000 DKK) to be sent to them. After you make the payment to them, airbnb will send an agent to show you the apartment, give you the keys and the contract and if you decide to sign the contract I get paid by AIRBNB, in the opposite case, the total deposit will be returned.
I need the following details so I can start the rental process with you:
Arrival:
Adults:
children:
Name:
Surname:
Address:
City:
Country:
Telephone Number:"
I haven't paid her anything, but me being stupid (again) filled out the informations she needed (besides the phone number; I didn't want to give her my real number, wherefore I just wrote a random number), and I haven't heard from her since (1 day has passed).
What do you guys reckon? There are obviously a lot of red flags, which is why I'd like to hear your opinions on whether or not I should stop replying to the emails sent by this person. Furthermore, is it normal to rent an apartment (long term rentals) through airbnb? I personally haven't heard of this, which makes me very suspicious. And should I be concerned that this person knows my real address.
Thanks in advance from a very stupid person :/
Based on the three above-mentioned results; I decided to respond to this person, who I actually haven't seen or met due to the fact that she's supposedly residing in the UK with her family. Hereafter, I asked her if we could meet in order to get all the paperwork done. She responded by this: "Last week I found someone who wanted to rent my apartment, but when I got there, he no longer responded to my calls, maybe he changed his mind, but I have lost two tickets and two working days. We can not meet to view the apartment because I do not want to risk losing any more money and time, so I decided to leave the keys and the lease contract to www.airbnb.com, and they will take care of everything". - This seemed very suspicious to me, but me being stupid, I continued the conversation. She thereafter sends me this message:
"The reservation will be made through the site www.airbnb.com and they will handle the deal. Airbnb is asking for the first month's rent which is 4000 DKK + 8000 DKK deposit (12000 DKK) to be sent to them. After you make the payment to them, airbnb will send an agent to show you the apartment, give you the keys and the contract and if you decide to sign the contract I get paid by AIRBNB, in the opposite case, the total deposit will be returned.
I need the following details so I can start the rental process with you:
Arrival:
Adults:
children:
Name:
Surname:
Address:
City:
Country:
Telephone Number:"
I haven't paid her anything, but me being stupid (again) filled out the informations she needed (besides the phone number; I didn't want to give her my real number, wherefore I just wrote a random number), and I haven't heard from her since (1 day has passed).
What do you guys reckon? There are obviously a lot of red flags, which is why I'd like to hear your opinions on whether or not I should stop replying to the emails sent by this person. Furthermore, is it normal to rent an apartment (long term rentals) through airbnb? I personally haven't heard of this, which makes me very suspicious. And should I be concerned that this person knows my real address.
Thanks in advance from a very stupid person :/
