Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: [email protected]
To: Michelle Banks
Subject: RE: Reply to your ad: Tastefully built, spacious studio one bedroom apartment in Southampton ( all bills inclusive)
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:39:43 +0000

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in 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 £300 pcm : £ 75.00 pw
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 keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Southampton?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful rest

Regards
Mr/Mrs Maxwell

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.

Thank you so much for posting this. I just received an email almost identical, I had a feeling it was a scam, so googled the email address and this came up. Thanks for confirming it for me!
This is the email I received:

from maxwell kate <[email protected]>
to
date 16 November 2010 17:10
subject RE: Reply to your ad: Well suited one bedroom self contained apartment for rent in Poland St, London.
mailed-by hotmail.com
hide details 17:10 (3 hours ago)
- Hide quoted text -
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in 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 £300 pcm : £75 pw
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 keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in London?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat. I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Maxwell


AND....another one I was sent, also clearly a scam, probably from the same person judging by the name:

from patricia maxwell <[email protected]>
to
date 16 November 2010 16:37
subject Re: Reply to your ad: An Exceptionally built apartment for rent in London
mailed-by gmail.com
Signed by gmail.com
hide details 16:37 (4 hours ago)
Hello Jacqueline,

Thanks for the interest in my flat, i can make reservation for you, my flat is fully finished and furnished to a high standard.Below are the things you should know about my flat.
Rent
The rent is 130 pounds per week bills are inclusive in the rent,such as Electricity, water,TV license broadband wireless internet and gas.

Security deposit 400pounds

At this point that you want to rent my flat, i have a few questions for you:

1. Can you take good care of my flat?
2. How long do you intend to rent my flat for?
3. Can you provide a reference in London?
4. Where are you coming from to rent my flat?.

I require answers to my questions before we can proceed with the reservation processes.

However owing to my past unpleasant experience of inviting intending tenant to view my flat without confirming if they are actually able to pay their rent at the right time has caused me a great discomfort and as such do not want to experience it anymore, because i have to travel all the way to take interested candidate round my flat. I do hope you understand my point of view. In view of the previous occurrences, I do not want to collect any money from you as i have not taken you round my flat and signed your contract with my lawyer, but my lawyer have strongly advised me to confirm that an intending tenant can pay for his or her rent as at when due, so before we can proceed for the viewing, I will like to confirm if you can afford my rent. All you need to do now is to make a transfer of 2 weeks rent plus security deposit of £400 to your friend or partner within the UK through western union transfer. The reason for using western union is that it is faster and my lawyer can easily confirm the transfer almost immediately she receives the scanned copy of the transfer receipt or the details of the transfer.


Once you are done with the transfer, get back to me with the scanned copy of the transfer receipt and if you do not have access to a scanner you can as-well write out the details on the transfer receipt as i forward it to my lawyer to confirm if the transfer is valid and available for pick-up by your friend or partner.Once my lawyer confirms the transaction valid, i will then ask you to tell your friend to go and pick up the money for you, then we can immediately schedule a convenient time for the viewing. I shall refund the cost of transfer to you when we meet for the viewing. After the viewing, if you like my flat, you can proceed to signing the contract and then pay your rent and security deposit to me directly.

I look forward to reading from you soon.

Do not hesitate to ask anymore question.

Best Regards.

Mrs Maxwell



I cannot believe these people! Thanks again for having posted the original message.

RE: Reply to your ad: Purposely built one bedroom studio flat for rent in Edinburgh city centre( all bills inclusive)Thursday, 16 December, 2010 19:34From: "maxwell kate" <[email protected]>View contact details
Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat.My flat is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my flat,I spoke with my lawyer some couple of minute ago concerning the interest you have in my flat and we both agreed to have you in my flat.

However,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 (P. Elliott & Company).

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 Edinburgh, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

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 or before making a reservation for any interested candidate. I would not ask you to send your bank statement neither your pay slip because it will be inappropriate for me to collect any money from you neither my lawyer. At least 2 weeks rent and security deposit which is £ 500 which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Money Gram Post Office. 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.

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.


I though it's good person

Welcome Zoe,

I am glad you found us, hopefully before you lost any money to this scammer. Please feel free to ask if you have any questions.

STILL AT IT!! Luckily I spotted this on google but I wish someone could put a stop to this person! If you type maxwell in the search on this site there all kinds of scams on there by the same person, i just really hope people aren't falling for it!!
This was an email response my friend received while helping me house hunt in brighton from a [email protected] regarding an add about a flat

this is the add - http://brighton.gumtree.com/brighton/70/70855670.html


Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in 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 £300 pcm : £75 pw
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 keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Brighton?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat. I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week and happy Christmas ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Maxwell


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how charming.. i'm scamming you but yea have a nice christmas... is there anything that can be done about this???

Welcome to ScamWarners avoidvexatious. You have done one of the best things that can be done to hurt scammers. Post their information here so others can find out that it is a scam and hopefully be spared from losing money to the scammer.

Because they hide behind fake names and the crime is done across national boundaries there is little that can be done legally. I am not saying "never", but it is very difficult to get the level of evidence and cooperation that needs to occur to get a scammer arrested.

It is frustrating, and that is why ScamWarners id here and does what we do. We are here because of you and for you. Lets keep exposing them for what they are and for what they are doing.

Thank you for your participation.

Also using this telephone number:-

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.


I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mrs.Maxwell
+447024093708