scammer - Uniquecomfortapartment

Hi, I am looking for a place to stay in London and after being scammed by Michael Guinn I am being very cautious. This site made me itchy and so I checked it out. The recent registration date makes me really suspicious. Are there other things to look for to confirm or deny the legitimacy of a rental lister? (besides the western union deal, or avoiding already identified scammers)

Stacy

Registrant:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: uniquecomfortapartment.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara, n 20, 1
Funchal, Madeira 9000-039
PT
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email:

Registrar Name....: Register.com
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com

Domain Name: uniquecomfortapartment.com
Created on..............: 2011-05-14
Expires on..............: 2012-05-14

Administrative Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: uniquecomfortapartment.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara, n 20, 1
Funchal, Madeira 9000-039
PT
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email:

Technical Contact:
Domain Discreet
ATTN: uniquecomfortapartment.com
Rua Dr. Brito Camara, n 20, 1
Funchal, Madeira 9000-039
PT
Phone: 1-902-7495331
Email:

DNS Servers:
dns010.d.register.com
dns064.c.register.com
dns056.b.register.com
dns235.a.register.com


Will be reported - Michael

Registrant:
Domain Discreet

This is another big red flag. Domain discreet is a service to hide the real owner of a website. While there may be situations in which hiding that information is appropriate (for instance, a personal website, or one expressing views that might bring negative attention), a legitimate business has no reason to hide their registration information.

You can also google various phrases (in quotes) from the website, to see if they have copied other websites, another red flag. For example, googling

"most amazing attractions mostly within walking distance"

leads me straight to http://www.bestlondonapartments.com/ where I can see several other phrases on the website you are checking out. You can see the other website has been registered a while, which means this site copied the information. That's another big, big red flag.

Another giant red flag is the phone number:

44 703 187 2780

Any time you see a 44-70 (and in most cases a 44-87) number, you might as well assume it is a scam. You can see more information about 44-70 numbers here: http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16485

Thanks for the additional info Dotti!

I guess my scamdar is alive and functioning finally ; -)

Glad I found this website. I too just exchanged some e-mails with Unique Comfort Apartments and saw some red flags too so I decided to see what I could find out about them online. I am currently already in the city where I'm looking to rent a place. So of course I e-mailed to see if I could view the apartment before committing (totally standard at least in the U.S.) and they said "no, because there is already a tenant staying there." Meanwhile they were able to accommodate my dates exactly as I requested (a two month stay!) Also their e-mail included a quote that was a mix of dollar signs and the British pound symbol which was confusing and unprofessional. Even though I signed my name in my initial inquiry, their form e-mail reply was addressed to "Dear Sir/Ma". Ma?! Their e-mails are full of poor English grammar which in itself is not a crime but it makes me uncomfortable. They also want 45% of payment upfront and therein lies the scam.

Glad this website exists.