Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: Michael B <[email protected]>

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in my apartment, it is still available. I
will try to give you as many details as I can regarding the apartment
in the following email.

The full address of the apartment is 3209 Hoyt Ave, Everett,
WA 98201.Everything is just like in the pictures, fully equipped with all
the appliances you need, very clean and well kept. The apartment can be
rented furnished or if you want you can use your furniture and deposit
mine in the storage unit. I work as an civil engineer and the company
I work for has developed projects all around the world. Now, I have
received an very good offer from them to move to the United Kingdom
department, offer that I have accepted.

The apartment is vacant so you can move-in anytime you want, also my
contract in UK is for the next 6 years, so for this period, I will not
return 100%.

The rent of 600$/month is for the whole apartment and includes all the
utilities: heat, water, electricity, parking, laundry in-suite, washer
and dryer also included, cable and internet. You will have full access
to all building amenities. Just in case repairs are needed there, I
will cover the costs, so no worries. The price I'm asking is below the
market because I want to find a responsible tenant to take good care
of the place.

I'm the owner of the apartment, it's already paid in full and there is
no mortgage on it. You have everything you need near-by (public
transportation, schools, groceries etc.). Also I love pets, so if you
have any pets, I won't have any problem, pets are allowed. Honestly
from point of view I'm sure that You'll love it for sure and rent it
on spot.

I would like to know how many people will live in the apartment and
also which rental contract do you prefer to start with - 6 months or 1
year with option of renewal?

Please let me know if you are really interested in the place so we can
discuss further.

Thank you and look forward hearing from you!
Michael

PS: I attached you all the pictures that I have with the apartment (as
you can see everything is in absolutely perfect condition).

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 or notification, kindly forward it to the address in my signature line and I will report the details to the appropriate authorities.

Michael B <[email protected]> wrote:


Like I said in my previous email, the company I work for moved me to United Kingdom, and unfortunately there is a problem showing you the apartment, because I already left. The reason I haven't managed to rent the apartment before I had to leave for United Kingdom is that someone said that will rent the apartment and haven't managed to keep the promise. I waited for him, but unfortunately he didn't managed to get the money on time, so the transaction failed and I had to leave before managing to rent it. Obviously this brought me huge inconvenience. So I can tell that I have a bitter experience making reservation, it's the first time I'm renting an apartment so I prefer using an worldwide property management company.

The company I am talking about is called Flipkey (www.flipkey.com) their website is main focused on short term rentals, but they also have an NEW service for long term rentals. I used this service last month when I rented my apartment in London, United Kingdom, and I can tell you that it was a great experience and the only way I will proceed renting my apartment is by using Flipkey.

Using FlipKey involves three parties: me as owner, you as a potential tenant and FlipKey as a responsible third party authorized to handle this transaction. FlipKey works the same way as the escrow account on which you place the deposit when you rent an apartment, except that instead of a bank, we use FlipKey. Of course, nobody can take that money until you will inspect the apartment and sign the lease agreement. With this procedure you will be able to check the apartment before I receive the payment.

Like I said before, I used them to rent my apartment in London and everything was perfect, they are really professional and they have great services. Please keep in mind that the "reward" for proceeding with this "unconventional" transaction is the monthly rent price, which is below the market, exactly for this reason. Also please know, that the transaction and the deposit to FlipKey is only the first time, so that you can be able to receive the keys and inspect the apartment. After you will visit the apartment and sign the lease agreement, you can deposit the monthly payments directly to my bank account, or we can setup a payment method that is suitable for both of us.

FlipKey is a very serious company, part of the super big TripAdvisor company, in my opinion, they are like Airbnb, but with better services.

My phone number is +441143920057 (UK phone number), I am new at work and I try to avoid speaking on the phone, if I am not able to respond, I will do my best to call you asap.

Let me know if you are interested so I can provide with all the steps of this transaction. You need to know everything about this process before we get this started.

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon!
Michael

PS: Sorry for the long emails, but I need to explain the situation as best as I can.

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 or notification, kindly forward it to the address in my signature line and I will report the details to the appropriate authorities.

I've also been contacted by this scammer.

I have been looking for apartments in the Renton, Washington area, when I found this post on Apartments.com. I send the poster an email asking for more information. A couple days later, I received the SAME email response that you had, of course, with a different address.

I emailed back soon after and he gave a long response about the apartment and how I can't visit the apartment because "he's gone in the UK". I decided to give the phone number a call - twice, no answer. This is when things started to sound fishy.

If you're on the hunt for a new home, please be careful! Unfortunately, there are dishonest scammers out there looking for your money.