RENTAL SCAM - Mrs. RACHAEL SHABANGU & SOPHIA ANDERSON

Hey! I'm also new at this page and I have to share what happend to me:
I was searching a room/flat in Barcelona, Spain and saw a post at an erasmus facebookgroup. It was written by a boy called KEVIN KEMP who offered a flat from his aunt. Interested persons should contact this email-adress: [email protected]

She declared to be the former tenant of that flat and the owner: a South-African woman who lives in her country has asked her to help her find a new tenant.
I told her about myself and my friends and asked about the flat:

The apartment has a 3bedroom and 2 toilets, all rooms are available for
rent at the moment, the owner of the apartment is a South African woman
and she lives there in her country, she only comes to inspect the
property once in a while, and i've been asked to help find new tenants
as I'm moving out of the property, If you are in the city, we can do
viewings today since my flight is tomorrow, The rooms are fully
furnished, wardrobes, desk, bedsheets, and towel are in the rooms, but
you may also bring yours. The Utensils are electric stove, Refrigerator,
Microwave, Television, Linens, CD players, Satellite cable, Double/twin
zip & link beds, Kitchen Electric hob/oven, Kitchen utensils, Dish
washer, Washing machine, WiFi High Speed Internet.

Price.
The big room is €400 p/m
The smaller room is €300 p/m
Caution fee of same amount will be paid and fully refunded when you are
moving out.

The address of the apartment is; Carrer dels Tallers, 65, Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain. ( Unit number can't be disclosed now for security
reasons.) I took some photos and will attach them, If you are interested
in making a booking, kindly send me your details, I will forward them in
email to the owner (also copy you in the email) so you can communicate,
Once she accepts your application, she will provide you with the
contract and payment details, once you have signed the contract and
paid, I will be responsible to send the keys with me to your current
address as soon as possible.

The details below are required from you to apply.

Full names:
Passport or ID Number:
Phone Number:
Full Current Address :
Big or small room ? :
Move In date :
Move Out date :
E-mail address :

Sincerely,
Sophia

In this mail she has send me some pictures and my friends and me were exited because the rooms were very nice and cheap too. We were really interested in renting this flat! Then I asked her for some more pictures but she never response to this question. Anyhow we wanted to rent the flat so I send her a message that we(3 girls) like to get the contract.

This was her answer:

There are 3 bedrooms, One large room and 2 small rooms, if you read my
message clearly, i said only 2 rooms are available now, which is one
large room and one small room, the other small room has been rented.

She never said that a room was already rented!

As a result I immediately sent her our details (mine + 1 friend) and she forwarded my message to the 'owner'. The owners response:

Dear Applicants,

You will find attached in this email the lease agreement for your attention, you will be accepted to be occupant of the property and I am glad to inform you that you are approved upon making necessary payment and signing the attached lease.

The apartment keys will be sent to the current addresses you provided via Fedex courier services along with a 5 pages document which will be paid for by myself, these contains all vital information you need about the apartment. These document contains the actual apartment number, the floor plan, WiFi passwords, lock codes in the apartment, rules and regulations. These information have been withheld intentionally to avoid theft.

You can occupy the property on your "Move in date''. I would require you to make your first payment via a Moneygram Transfer, I will provide name and address below in person of my husband as i'm on a wheelchair.

First names: Mfundo Michael
Surname: Shabangu
Address: 190 Nelson Mandela Drive,
City: Pretoria
Zipcode: 0002
Country: South Africa.

These are the only details needed to fill in a Moneygram sending form, included with your details and the cash, For the small room, you are required to pay first month rent 300 euro + refundable deposit 300euro = 600euro.
For the big room, will be 800euro.

Moneygram however charges you to use their service, so in this case, you can deduct the charges from the total amount, it shouldn't be more than 20euro.

I have mortgage deductions on my bank account, which means the bank is going to take the money immediately you pay into it, these will prevent me from paying the necessary bills for the apartment, I'm trying to avoid that at the moment so you can also have a wonderful stay, i hope you understand. Bank account details to pay your other rents will still be provided.

As stated on the lease, note that if you intend to pay for all the months, there's a 30euro discount, the rent would be 270p/m.

Finally, please do not forget to sign the lease, scan it and send back to me included with any proof of identification and the payment receipt via e-mail.

Regards
M. R. Shabangu

After we received this message we thought a lot about sending the money but then my friend has googled her name Rachel Shabangu, and has landed on this page!
On this point I would like to refer to the post we found and we are so happy that someone has already shared his experience: https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&p=333291
This girl received exactly the same messages as we did, only name and address was changed!
Be careful, never send money to an unknown person, take a look at the rooms or flats personally.