Shady Amsterdam Apartment Rental

In searching for an affordable place to stay in Amsterdam this June, I found a few great-looking apartments for short-term lease on Craigslist. This is the reply I rec'd from one fellow, below that are the details of the bank transfer he asked me to make... he will not accept paypal. This seems shady and of course I am not going to send money to an account that is apparently in Finland, for an apartment rental in Amsterdam, to pay someone who claims to be located in the UK. Has anyone actually had SUCCESS with an apartment rented from CL? We've rented flats in London before but have gone through vacationrentals.com.

-----Original Message-----
From: Comfort Homes <[email protected]>
To: xxxxx <[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, Apr 13, 2011 1:37 am
Subject: RE: Amsterdam Apartment Rental

We have availability of our Marnixkade Canal view Apartment (Jordaan District, Amsterdam) from June 12th to 17th 5nights.
We charge is €70 per night and maximum of 1-3 person is allowed in the flat. We also charge a refundable security deposit of €150 is required to cover for any damages made and in the case of no damage made, your €150 will be refunded at your check out point cash in hand.
Total reservation cost: €70 x 5nights = €350
We require 40% reservation deposit for booking less than 7days plus €150 refundable security deposit.
Amount require to hold date: €140+ €150 = €290
Charges include 1%Vat, taxes and other utilities
We also offer free service like Cots & High Chairs
Available,Welcome Packs, and Free Metro/Air-Port Shuttle where you will receive the keys to the apartment and checked in.
Get back with your details of arrival.
We are located in the Uk.
Will be looking froward to read from you.

Ran


Payment request details:

Good to hear from you,
Here is the Bank information.
ACCOUNT NAME: Pasi Olavi Pitkonen
IBAN: FI44 8000 2236 1476 65
BIC: DABAFIHH
BANK NAME: DANSKE BANK
BANK ADDRESS: SAMPO PANKKI OYJ, UNIONINKATU 22, 00075 SAMPO PANKKI.

Ran

Welcome here GSKorelys.

Yes, this is a scam! If you google for

We have availability of our Marnixkade Canal view Apartment

Then you'll find a website where the real owners are to be found, and they don't live in Finland!

Thank you! I emailed the guy back and asked if PayPal was possible for some record (plus, PP will refund from scams), and he replied that it wasn't possible, and also attached a picture of his UK passport to "verify" who I am dealing with. I searched for the name - Ran Anthony Williams - and have found the same name and passport number attached to a number of scams (including the au pair overseas worker type) across the internet. I imagine the real Ran Anthony Williams has no idea that his name is being used in that manner, or may even be deceased, how sad.

The bank account in the name of Pasi Olavi Pitkonen has been involved in apartment rental scams before and if he had the sense to Google his own name he'd be a lot more cautious, but people who allow their accounts to be used in scams aren't bright.

It also makes it easy for future apartment rentals to be flagged as scams as it doesn't matter what apartment they pretend to offer, if they use that bank account it must be a scam, which could have an adverse effect on anything else he does in life.