Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: nessa watson <[email protected]>
To: Michelle Banks
Sent: Wed, 13 October, 2010 19:47:41
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: Lovely One Double Bedroom Furnished Flat in City Centre. Available for Long or Short term.

Hello ,
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is available and i am more than willing to have you in my flat. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit:

Rent : £ 180.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 400.00 (Refundable at the end of your first week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive (water, gas, council tax, electricity and broadband internet with Wi-Fi) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm

However, i would like to ask few questions from you, can you take care of my flat as it is? How many weeks or months do you intend to stay or pay for? Do you have references in London?

Kindly reply for further information.

I look forward to your reply soon.

Kind Regards
Mr/Mrs Watson
+44-702-401-4830

The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send (by Western Union) money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected. You will never get to see the accommodation or your money 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.

From: nessa watson

Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2010 1:43 PM
To: Michelle Banks
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: Furnished 1st floor flat in Marylebone W1 within minutes walk to the tube stations

Dear Michelle
Thanks for getting back to me. I am more than willing to have you in my flat for long term. However, it was 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.

Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are in London, 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 2 weeks rent and security deposit which is £ 400 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western union money transfer. You can make the transfer with your name as a sender name and your partner or friend in UK as the 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.

Note that the transfer must be confirmed valid before the receiver picks up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

Kindly reply if you have more questions to ask.

I look forward to reading from you.

Kind Regards
Nessa Watson