Rental Scammer - [email protected] /

From: Alan West <[email protected]>

Thanks for the reply and the information provided.Yes of course couple
is welcome and also your partner is welcome as well and willing to
make a perfect reservation for you. I and my lawyer have both agreed
to make a reservation for you so you don't need to be worried as long
as you have promise me that you will take proper good care of my flat
just the way it is.However, my lawyer asked me not to collect any
money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i
taken you round my flat so he decided to make a confirmation of your
financial ability before we proceed with the reservation.

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 month rent
£510 and security deposit which is £600 which is refundable after your
1st week stay in my flat,would be required from you to transfer
through the Western union. You can make the transfer with your partner
or friend's name as a sender and your name as a receiver to an address
in Exeter and you can as well use my flat address.

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
custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the reservation
and you can easily pick up the money at the nearest Western union when
you arrive to Exeter and also, i will refund back to you the cost of
transfer when we meet

Regards
Mr/Mrs West

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union, MoneyGram or bank transfer with a promise that you can have the keys to a property that does not belong to him.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them again.

All the details such as names, addresses, pictures etc. that the scammer uses in order to back up his story, are stolen from elsewhere.

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 Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment 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: Alan West <[email protected]>

Thanks for the reply, Regarding to your question. its possible for you
to come for the viewing. However, i can make a perfect reservation for
you as i am giving you 100% guarantee as the flat is still available.
I would need to come down and schedule for the viewing. Yet some
prospective tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and they
disturb the landlord to arrange a viewing, so i wouldn't like such to
happen again.

More so, i have 2 other interested candidates that just provided their
details for the tenancy agreement and also willing to make an advance
deposit to secure the flat but i declined because they have a big
family with children, 3 cats and dogs.

Nevertheless, i will appreciate if you would be able to get the
security deposit transferred now via online banking or locate the
bank. Upon verification of payment, we proceed immediately with the
viewing. We can proceed with the viewing today around 7pm or at your
convenient time. Your funds will be protected and monitor by the
www.depositprotection.com.

Please let me know if you are willing to proceed with the payment so
that i can provide to you the bank account details. You will pay the
rent after the viewing and note that making a deposit doesn't mean you
must rent my flat after the viewing, if you decide not to proceed with
the rent, then i will refund the deposit immediately without any
deduction.

Hope to read from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs West

This Scammer will arrange to send you an Invoice or Notification -- Make no mistake, the Document 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.

[AlanJones]

From: Alan West - [email protected]
Subject: Re: Christian Flatshare - New Message Regarding: 1 bedroom flat in Saint Cross Road, Winchester (SO23) - Whole Flat

You need to get the payment done because the stress i pass through is
too much for me and if at all you did not like the flat after the
viewing then am satisfied you can look elsewhere i dont mind but i
just want you to come and see all my stress

Yup. I just received these e-mails too. On Christian Flatshare, there's a man called John Bowen and when you're interested he asks for your email and then Alan West sends you these emails. They seemed quite legit at first, but when he asked for a deposit before giving me a chance to view the flat, a bell began to ring and I looked up his name. It ended up to be on this website. Such a shame, but for people interested in a flat on Christian Flatshare owned by John Bowen (Mr West's secretary he said, the liar), don't even bother to message him!

Thanks for the reply, Regarding to your question. its possible for you
to come for the viewing. However, i can make a perfect reservation for
you as i am giving you 100% guarantee as the flat is still available.
I would need to come down and schedule for the viewing. Yet some
prospective tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and they
disturb the landlord to arrange a viewing, so i wouldn't like such to
happen again.

More so, i have 2 other interested candidates that just provided their
details for the tenancy agreement and also willing to make an advance
deposit to secure the flat but i declined because they have a big
family with children, 3 cats and dogs.

Nevertheless, i will appreciate if you would be able to get the
security deposit transferred now via online banking or locate the
bank. Upon verification of payment, we proceed immediately with the
viewing. We can proceed with the viewing at your convenient time.

Please let me know if you are willing to proceed with the payment so
that i can provide to you the bank account details. You will pay the
rent after the viewing and note that making a deposit doesn't mean you
must rent my flat after the viewing, if you decide not to proceed with
the rent, then i will refund the deposit immediately without any
deduction.

Hope to read from you soon.

Regards
Wonies A West

Can confirm. There's a bunch on Christian Flatshare which I am completely unconvinced by, but one of them has pictures that I reverse image searched and they had no matches so I figured "what the hell, if he asks for money then that will confirm." and low and behold, he wants the £500 security deposit in advance for a viewing. All the posts are under different names, in fact the name he's signed on the email doesn't even match the name on the ad! They are all whole 1 bed flats between £450 and £500, which naturally is far too good to be true. Be careful out there-- if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, and if you test the waters anyway and they ask for money in advance? It definitely is!

I can also confirm. Pretty much the same story.

This happened to me also. Can someone please report this man to the appropiate authorities:

Hello Daniel,

Thanks for the reply, Regarding to your question. its possible for you
to come for the viewing. However, i can make a perfect reservation for
you as i am giving you 100% guarantee as the flat is still available.
I would need to come down and schedule for the viewing. Yet some
prospective tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and they
disturb the landlord to arrange a viewing, so i wouldn't like such to
happen again.

More so, i have 2 other interested candidates that just provided their
details for the tenancy agreement and also willing to make an advance
deposit to secure the flat but i declined because they have a big
family with children, 3 cats and dogs.

Nevertheless, i will appreciate if you would be able to get the
security deposit transferred now via online banking or locate the
bank. Upon verification of payment, we proceed immediately with the
viewing. We can proceed with the viewing tomorrow around 2pm or at
your convenient time.

Please let me know if you are willing to proceed with the payment so
that i can provide to you the bank account details and after the
transfer i will issue you an invoice receipt which you will bring when
coming for the viewing with a passport photography or any form of ID..
You will pay the rent after the viewing and note that making a deposit
doesn't mean you must rent my flat after the viewing, if you decide
not to proceed with the rent, then i will refund the deposit
immediately without any deduction.

Hope to read from you soon.

Regards
Jones A West

as you can see very similar to the previous thread