Rental Scammer - travellets.com

________________________________________
> From: [email protected] [[email protected]]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 8:46 AM
> Subject: £80 / 3br - Near Paddington, Lancaster Gate, Queensway and
> Bayswater Tube Station
>
> This apartment is available on your selected date (July 15-20) which is
> 5nights, the rate is £80 per night and the total is £400.
> The amount is inclusive all bills, we supply all linens.
> Also we take 40% and a refundable £200 security deposit to confirm your
> booking and you pay the balance on your arrival day.
> The amount to be paid is 40% which is; £160.00 + £200.00 security deposit
> The £200.00 security deposit is refundable on your departure date.
> Total: £360.00 GBP
> The balance 60% (£240) to be paid on or before arrival as you deem fit.
> We accept; wire/bank transfer. Other means you wish to make the payment
> can be discussed.
> The apartment is located at 116 Gloucester Terrace Paddington, Greater
> London W2 6
>
>
> Regards,
> Michael Guinn
> +447924570845

You are asked to pay a deposit up front for a property that this company does not have available.
This company ask for a wire transfer to a bank account which may belong to an innocent person scammed into being a mule.
The money will disappear and you will be out of pocket with no property to rent.

WHOIS - travellets.com


Registrar: NETFIRMS, INC.
Status: ok
Dates: Created 31-jan-2011 Updated 31-jan-2011 Expires 31-jan-2012
DNS Servers: NS2.UNIXBSD.INFO NS3.UNIXBSD.INFO

I was referred to whois.netfirms.com; I'm looking it up there.




Registrant:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc.
c/o travellets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA

Domain name: travellets.com

Administrative Contact:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc. [email protected]
c/o travellets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA
1-416-661-2100 Fax:

Technical Contact:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc. [email protected]
c/o travellets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA
1-416-661-2100 Fax:

Registrar of Record: Netfirms Inc.
Record expires on 2012-01-31.
Record created on 2011-01-31.
Database last updated on 2011-03-03 12:07:39.

Similar site:-

http://courtlets.com/

WHOIS - courtlets.com


Registrar: NETFIRMS, INC.
Status: ok
Dates: Created 24-feb-2011 Updated 24-feb-2011 Expires 24-feb-2012
DNS Servers: NS2.UNIXBSD.INFO NS3.UNIXBSD.INFO

I was referred to whois.netfirms.com; I'm looking it up there.


Registrant:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc.
c/o courtlets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA

Domain name: courtlets.com

Administrative Contact:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc. **************@domainprivacygroup.com
c/o courtlets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA
1-416-661-2100 Fax:

Technical Contact:
Domain Privacy Group, Inc. **************@domainprivacygroup.com
c/o courtlets.com,
7030 Woodbine Ave. Suite 800
Markham, ON L3R 6G2
CA
1-416-661-2100 Fax:

Registrar of Record: Netfirms Inc.
Record expires on 2012-02-24.
Record created on 2011-02-24.
Database last updated on 2011-03-03 12:02:01.

Both will be reported - Michael

We just got scammed by the same people for an apartment on Holland Ave in Kensington. Made the same mistakes (wired the money) and Michael Guinn is not to be found. He asked for the money to be wired. Neither phone answers.

Has anyone reported them to any authorities?

From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 9:32 AM
To: xxxxxx
Subject: RE: £60 / 2br - Located just off the famous Holland Park Av enue ( Kensington, Greater London W14)

Here is the Name, Address and Phone number.

Name: Adewunmi Adebowale
Address: 7 Lord N St Westminster, London SW1P 3 Phone Number: +447024025166

Please see attached for Invoice.

Regards,
Michael Guinn

Mod Note: I completed the coding for the color highlight. ~Bubbles

Welcome to ScamWarners k2mass. I am sorry you were pulled into this scammer's story.

Sadly, reporting to the police does not do anything because scammers hide behind faked names. Because the scammers had the money wired there may be a little chance of hurting the scammer. I am sending you a PM (Private Message).

Thank you for posting this information up for others to find.

Welcome to ScamWarners k2mass. I am sorry you were pulled into this scammer's story.

Sadly, reporting to the police does not do anything because scammers hide behind faked names. Because the scammers had the money wired there may be a little chance of hurting the scammer. I am sending you a PM (Private Message).

Thank you for posting this information up for others to find.

I, too, was taken in by this scam. Upon instruction from the phony rental agency, I wired money to an account at Halifax Bank in UK. Upon arrival in London, we found that the address was real, but the family living in the apartment had no interest in having the six of us join them for a week.
I am distressed to read your note that reporting to the police does not do anything. I went to the police station in Kensington and got a warm, sympathetic response. But it sounds as if you don't think anything will come of the report.

It's not that the police don't want to do anything. It's that they can't. They are often as frustrated as we are about this.

The scammer is not in UK - he is most likely in Africa or Malaysia. He is likely using an internet cafe, so tracing the emails won't get to a single person. The scammer has hidden behind fake names and information. Because he is out of the country, he is far out of UK police jurisdiction, and there is a long and complicated process required to get cooperation from police in another country (and many scammers work in areas where local police are very corrupt and can be bought anyway)--one your local police department generally can't initiate. Generally the losses need to be much, much larger before the crime will get the attention of the people needed to initiate an international investigation.

The bank account is most likely owned by someone other than the scammer. It may have been opened with fake information / ID as well, and the money was likely collected from the account immediately, very possibly online or by ATM. In some cases, the owner of the bank account thinks he/she is legitimately employed taking payments for a real business. If they have enough evidence, the bank account owner could be charged with fraud, but the person really behind the scam will simply walk away and keep scamming with new names and bank accounts.

Oh. I am so hating life. And I have to call my husband and tell him that;

1. We do not have a reservation in London for the 31st
2. We have wired 256 GBP and will not in all likelihood recover it.

I have bank account info, an address and a phone number. Doesn't western union check id and such to pick up the money?

We got our listing from craigslist.

What a rat.

Sara

astoundingly Michael is still posting on craigslist london

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/vac/2366406201.html

In fact I am astounded to find that he is also posting under another name; James Lopez.

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/vac/2365799553.html

I believe that this listing is his as well.

http://london.craigslist.co.uk/vac/2348895481.html

This is terribly frustrating.

Bonjour from Paris,
I was about to go further in the reservation of a flat in London for Halloween this year.
Thanks to this website, I did not! His name has changed, email extention too, but the phone number is the same, and his email message too (here underneath)
Still looking for a flat to rent though....

SENT FROM [email protected]
"Hi Shirley,
This apartment is available for October 26th - November 2nd (7nights) the
rate is £35 per night and the total is £245. The amount is inclusive all
bills, we provide all linens, internet, gas and electricity.
Also we take 40% and a (refundable) £150 security deposit to confirm your
booking and you pay the balance on your arrival day.
The amount to be paid is 40% which is; £98.00 + £150.00 security deposit
Total: £248.00 GBP
The £150.00 security deposit is refundable on your departure date.
The balance 60% (£147) to be paid on or before arrival as you deem fit.
We accept; wire/bank transfer. Other means you wish to make the payment
can be discussed.
Regards,
Michael Webb
+447924570845 "