Rental Scam - [email protected]

Hannah Lucas <[email protected]>

Hi,

I am writing regarding the apartment situated in 100 Church St, Brighton BN1 1UJ.
My name is Hannah Lucas , my mother bought the apartment for me to use during my studies. I will take care of the renting process. The apartment is in perfect condition, only I lived there. The rent is 525 £ / month with no other fees (heat, water, electricity, internet and TV, parking spot is included in the monthly rent).
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment because I moved in Finland with my family.
I decided to use the services of AIRBNB.

Regards,
Hannah Lucas

Domain Name: LOUERSUITE.COM
Registry Domain ID: 2188279985_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Updated Date: 2017-11-17T10:51:36Z
Creation Date: 2017-11-17T10:51:35Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-11-17T10:51:35Z

Subject: Re: -Elegant Studio Apartment for rent
From: Hannah Lucas <[email protected]>


Hi again ,

Thank you for quickly reply. I am Hannah Lucas.
We will use AIRBNB for the safety of both parts.
Let me explain how the transaction will go, step by step: Airbnb charge
some fees for services that they offer, to avoid taxes we reserve the
apartment only for 2 months through their system + security deposit (
this security deposit you will get Back after you will leave my flat ).
After you see the apartment we make the lease agreement for the period
that you want.
Airbnb provides an online platform that connects hosts who have
accommodations to rent with guests seeking to rent such accommodations.
In order to book the apartment, you will have to make the payment to
Airbnb with your credit card. Airbnb will hold your payment until you
have received the keys and contract and you have seen the apartment.
After seeing the apartment, you will have to make your decision, if you
wish to take it or not. I will receive the money only after you have
seen the apartment and decided to take it.
If the apartment is not as i have presented it, you have the right to
refuse it. Airbnb will return your money to your account in 12 hours
from your decision.
After the first month, the next rent payments will be done directly to
my personal bank account.
I need to know Start date (when you want to move in the apartment): day
/ month / year
If everything sounds good to you, please send me your full name,address
and phone number and i will send you the Link AIRBNB were you can BOOK:

Looking forward to hear from you.

Kind regards,
Hannah

This Scammer will arrange to send you an Invoice -- Make no mistake, the Invoice will be fake !
If you are reading this because you have received such an invoice, kindly forward it to the address in my signature line and I will report the details to the appropriate authorities.

I have had exactly the same emails as the users below, except for a property in Bournemouth.

The flat was initially posted on Spareroom.com where I then emailed [email protected] for more information. I then received the email from [email protected] detailing out the property:
“Hi,
I am writing regarding the apartment situated in 15 Norwich Ave, Bournemouth BH2 5TG.
My name is Hannah Lucas , my mother bought the apartment for me to use during my studies. I will take care of the renting process. The apartment is in perfect condition, only I lived there. The rent is 500 £ / month with no other fees (heat, water, electricity, internet and TV, parking spot is included in the monthly rent).
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment because I moved in Finland with my family.
I decided to use the services of AIRBNB.
Regards,
Hannah Lucas”

Obviously this seemed like a fantastic deal so I was decided to go for it. After a week of emails with myself and “Hannah”, she sent me through the link to book the property on AirBnb, which I was going to go through with, after seeing that other users had reviewed the property and all seemed good with it.

However, before paying the £1500, I decided to visit the property as I was unsure about the location of it. The property described turned out to be a derelict shop with moulding windows on the top floor, which definitely didn’t correlate with the beautiful pictures shown.

I emailed the store front to Hannah querying the location and have still had no reply! Funny that!
Since then, I have run a Google search on the images listed. I found the actual real-life property in Hammersmith, which is where “Hannah” has taken these from (actually £2600 pcm – more realistic!) https://www.spotahome.com/london/for-rent:apartments/149297

Furthermore, and perhaps the worst part of this, is that these scammers have also set up an exact replica of the original AirBnb website. I thought that even at least if I had gone through with it, I’d be covered by the security of AirBnb – but no. AirBnb pages start with http://www.airbnb.co.uk/ etc but the link to this page listing is http://www.airbnb.uk.com-travel-request-online.eu/booking/listing/e1700d/?rent=1517571640?s=eRGFZrin

This means that it looks completely legit and I had trusted the peer reviews. But don’t be fooled by this one as guaranteed you’ll lose all your money.

I was recently looking for properties to move in to next year and found this, and emailed Hannah.lucas to get more information and received the exact same email as above, but relevant to a house in Colchester, Essex.

Hi,

I am writing regarding the apartment situated in 2 St Botolph's Circus,Colchester,CO2 7EF.
My name is Hannah Lucas , my mother bought the apartment for me to use during my studies. I will take care of the renting process. The apartment is in perfect condition, only I lived there. The rent is 500 £ / month with no other fees (heat, water, electricity, internet and TV, parking spot is included in the monthly rent).
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment because I moved in Finland with my family.
I decided to use the services of AIRBNB.

Regards,

Hannah Lucas

Second email:

Hi again ,

Thank you for quickly reply. I am Hannah Lucas.
We will use AIRBNB for the safety of both parts.
Let me explain how the transaction will go, step by step: Airbnb charge some fees for services that they offer, to avoid taxes we reserve the apartment only for 2 months through their system + security deposit ( this security deposit you will get Back after you will leave my flat ). After you see the apartment we make the lease agreement for the period that you want.
Airbnb provides an online platform that connects hosts who have accommodations to rent with guests seeking to rent such accommodations.
In order to book the apartment, you will have to make the payment to Airbnb with your credit card. Airbnb will hold your payment until you have received the keys and contract and you have seen the apartment. After seeing the apartment, you will have to make your decision, if you wish to take it or not. I will receive the money only after you have seen the apartment and decided to take it.
If the apartment is not as i have presented it, you have the right to refuse it. Airbnb will return your money to your account in 12 hours from your decision.
After the first month, the next rent payments will be done directly to my personal bank account.
I need to know Start date (when you want to move in the apartment): day / month / year
If everything sounds good to you, please send me your full name,address and phone number and i will send you the Link AIRBNB were you can BOOK:

Looking forward to hear from you.

Kind regards,
Hannah

I'm glad I googled the email to find this website or I would definitely have been scammed.

From: Hannah Lucas <[email protected]>
Subject: Studio 36m2 for rent

Hi,

I am writing regarding the apartment situated in Bentinck St, Cambridge CB2 1HG.
My name is Hannah Lucas , my mother bought the apartment for me to use during my studies. I will take care of the renting process. The apartment is in perfect condition, only I lived there. The rent is 500 £ / month with no other fees (heat, water, electricity, internet and TV, parking spot is included in the monthly rent).
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment because I moved in Finland with my family.
I decided to use the services of AIRBNB.

Regards,

Hannah Lucas

This Scammer will arrange to send you an Invoice -- Make no mistake, the Invoice will be fake !
If you are reading this because you have received such an invoice, kindly forward it to the address in my signature line and I will report the details to the appropriate authorities.

I thought the price was too low for how luxurious the apartment is and as I couldn't find this Hannah Lucas on Facebook or Linkedin I searched on Google. The apartment ad was posted on http://www.rooming.nl on which you have to pay to contact the owner but this person said that the she/he couldn't be messaged through the website so she/he should be contacted at this email address [email protected]

Hannah Lucas <[email protected]>

Hi,

I am writing regarding the apartment situated in Mauritsweg 2003, 3012 JX Rotterdam.
My name is Hannah Lucas , my mother bought the apartment for me to use during my studies. I will take care of the renting process. The apartment is in perfect condition, only I lived there. The rent is 750 € / month with no other fees (heat, water, electricity, internet and TV, parking spot is included in the monthly rent).
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment because I moved in Finland with my family.
I decided to use the services of AIRBNB.

Regards,

Hannah Lucas