Room rental In Amsterdam

Hello!
I am looking to rent a room in Amsterdam, so I replied to quite a few online add, and in one of them I had the following reply:

-----------------mail Start----------------

Thanks for the mail.All i want is someone who will help me take good care of my property in my absence and when i contact my solicitor here in UK,He made a suggestion which i think is all right because it will safe and secure both parties and what he said is going to contain all our information.And also i will be sure that my keys is going to safe hands.

For you to get the place reserved we will both sign a rental agreement contract which will be prepared by my solicitor then i will post the keys of the apartment and the payment receipt to you via DHL express (1-2 days delivery ) after your deposit payment which is your first month rent and the security deposit has been confirmed.

Do get back to me with the below information so that we can proceed further:

Your full name:
Your full address:
Nationality:
Passport id:
Phone number:
Mobile Number:
Date of birth:
Move in date and out:

I shall be waiting for the above information soonest. Please make sure you send me your correct current address because i would use that in posting down the keys and the payment receipt to you after we must have concluded the contract.

Best regards
Adrain
------------------------mail end-----------------

When i replied I didn t want so send ANY money before i saw the place with my own eye (and therefore I proposed a viewing date), he replied:


-----------------Mail starts-----------

Thanks for the mail.i quite understand all you have said but i need you to understand that i am working here in UK and it will be stressful and risky for me to come down to Amsterdam to show you the apartment.

I also understand the fact that you do not want to deal with the person you are not seeing but we need to reach a conclusion. When i told my solicitor about it here he suggested an opinion which i feel it is ok because it will secure both parties.

Here is my suggestion and i believe it will surely work out if you can do it this way. I am so willing to have my keys sent to you if only i can confirm the first month rent and the deposit payment has been made for the apartment.This is how you will go about it. I will advice you to send the payment via western union using your name as the sender and use any of your friends name as receiver so that you can only have access to the money but you must make the destination to UK so that i can easily confirm here in UK that a payment has been made. Then i will be assured that the keys of my apartment are going into a safe hands and also that you are really willing and capable of renting my apartment.As soon as you send me the scanned copy of the payment receipt from western union and i am able to confirm here that the payment has been made, i would post down my keys to you immediately and get back to you with the shipping code so that you will know when the keys will be deliever to you.Once you receive the keys,you will check the apartment and if you are okay with the condition of the apartment we will then proceed with the contract and you can move in immediately.
And if you are not okay with the apartment you can easily go back to western union and have your money back.

Here is the Example of how you will do it at western union:

Senders name....your name
sender Address....your address
Receivers name....any of you friend name
Receivers address...United Kingdom

Note that at western union there is no way you can collect money that was not sent to you because you will have to show them your ID before they can give you the money .i will be very happy if you can make the payment out with your friends name and make the destination to be United kingdom then you email me the scan copy of the payment receipt from western union.Once i can be able to comfirm here that the payment was made out am going to post out the keys immediately and get back to you with the shipping code so that you will know when the keys will be deliever to you and as soon as you check the apartment, if you are okay with the condition of the apartment,We will then proceed with the contract and after the contract you will have the receivers name changed to mine at western union then i can have access to my money.

Am sure this will safe and secure both parties.Kindly get back to me with the scan copy of the payment receipt from western union so that i can have the keys posted out as soon as possible

Attach is the scan copy of my international passport for you to be sure that you are dealing with the right person.Am only doing this due to because you have been scammed before and i have been scammed also.i think this is the only way we can buld the trust.

I shall be waiting for your response as soon as possible
Regards
Adrain

-----------------Mail End------------------

Could anyone help me with this?

Cheers

Hi foulpax,

One advice; run. Run as fast as you can. This is most definately a scammer. There isn't a single legitimate business transaction that happens through Western Union, just because it is such an unsecure method of payment. It is a scammer's favourite tool, and as soon as someone even proposes it as a method of payment, it's a scammer.

Asking to see the apartment is a very smart move which I can only applaud. Nice work on finding out it's a scam! Please post all email adresses from this person, websites, telephone numbers so other people can find them when googling. Thanks!

Yes Foulpax - scam by template straight from the scammer's textbook.

I love this

Best regards
Adrain

If his mail were amusing with a self-mocking tone, it would be brilliant - but no - it's just a scammer who can't spell.

Posting keys to people is not a part of apartment rental. What if the lock doesn't work when you arrive ? Would you buy a car like that ? (You've seen the photo and I'll post you the keys )

Landlords don't wander off without someone to look after their apartment. The request to view it flushed him out.