Room for Rent and other rental scams
by Michelle Wed Apr 06, 2011 12:41 pm
On 06/04/2011 08:32, "Alicia May" <[email protected] <http://[email protected]/> > wrote:

Hi,

Thanks for your response and enquiry. The rooms are still available and below is details of the flat.

Flat address: Englefield Road,Islington,London

Post Code: N1 3LQ

The Monthly rent is £500 per month and it includes all bills. Bills like council tax, electricity, cable T.V, Water,T.V license and gas all covered.

A refundable deposit of £600 deposited which will be refunded back to you after 4 weeks in the flat.It will be received along with the rent before Moving in.

Minimum Stay: 1 Month(s)
Maximum stay:1 yr with the option of extending the contract after 12 months

- Huge living room,
- One toilet and sathroom with Shower
- Kitchen with modern fittings
- Dish washer/Dryer
- Washing machine
- Cable TV
- High-speed Internet with WiFi
- Garden and off street Parking space available

The area: In my mind the perfect the location because it's balanced in the middle between two great areas, on a beautiful street. On the one hand it's within short walking distance of Upper St and all the cool bars, pubs, cafe's, and restaurants there. It's also close to Highbury Fields.

On the other hand you are also walking distance to the Kingsland Road (the best Vietnamese food in London!), and the many vibrant areas around there. Being so close to east london and to the galleries, restaurants, venues, takeaway's and further down towards Shoreditch/Hoxton there is the famous nightlife and shops and no end of interesting places

It's approx 15 minutes walk to both Highbury and Islington tube/rail and Angel tube. You can get to Angel quicker by hopping on one of the many buses that go down Essex Road.

The road itself is lovely, with great pubs on either end. A Sainsbury's literally across the road from the flat, plus all the essentials on Essex road.

I have attached some photos of the flat with this email.

Hope to get your response soon.

Kind regards,
Alicia.


From: Alicia May <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 15:05:45 +0100
To: Michelle Banks
Subject: Email me back to proceed

Hi Michelle,

There's no problem in inviting you for the viewing,I currently work and live in Manchester so I will need to take a day off from work in order to come down to arrange the viewing with you.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, is either they cannot afford the rent or the security deposit required but want me to come down with the aim of renegotiating.

I have consulted my lawyer and we have resolved that any potential tenants should be able to prove in the following way in order to determine who is financially buoyant and that he or she can stick to appointment when scheduled and able to pay his/her rent as at when due.In this case, a bank-statement or gurantee from your organization wont be accepted as we have had wayward tenants tendering fake documents.

PROCEDURE:

1) Transfer the amount £1100 (1 month rent and security deposit) to any of your family members or your friend via MoneyGram at the nearest post office. You can ask any of them to make the transfer to you either.

Your Name (as Sender) to any of your family members or your friend (as Receiver) in London or any of them make you the receiver.

2) Scan & Send a copy of the MoneyGram transaction receipt as a proof of the transaction or mail me the transaction details. (The money is safe as it is only you that can withdraw since you need a ID card or International passport)

3) Then, we will meet for viewing.

4) If you decide to take the flat, we will go to any local MoneyGram outlet close to the flat for you to pick up the money and pay me. (You don't need to come with cash to view, after viewing we will go together, you will cancel the transfer and withdraw the money to pay me).

5) Keys will be handed over to you after signing the contracts.

I do not want you to have the feeling that I am asking for money BEFORE you see what you are renting because I know that payment is meant to be done AFTER you have seen the Flat and okay with it that is why I said you should make the transfer to yourself so that you will be the one to receive the money and pay me in person after the viewing.

If you are ready ,you can go ahead and make the transfer and let me know immediately you do the transfer so that I can know how to squeeze out time to come and meet you.You will need to scan the copy of the transfer receipt and email it to me to confirm it online in order to know you have made the transfer and to let you know that I will return back to you the full transfer charges whether you decide to rent the flat or not when we meet.

Let me know if you are ok with this arrangement so that we can proceed.

Kind regards,
Alicia.


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.
Advertisement

by neilhughes Mon Apr 11, 2011 7:58 am
Yes, i had this one too, for a place in London, said she was living in Yorkshire, as i am in Manchester.
by penygail Fri May 06, 2011 2:40 pm
In the last two days I've been contacted by Alicia' [email protected] with exactly the same wording. Really glad I 'googled' the email address and saw this forum, thanks! Pretty disappointed as the flat looked great :( Oh well, at least I didn't end up losing any money.

Btw, is there any way I can report this to anyone so they get caught? Very tempted to send them an email!
by Katharina Sat May 07, 2011 6:53 am
Hello pengail,
sadly, you will not be able to catch the scammer. He is scamming from an internet café in West Africa or Malysia, using a fake identity and a phone that can't be traced.
Your local police have no way to get hold of him, and law enforcement in his country might be corrupt and will not bother.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 11 guests