Room for Rent Scammer - [email protected]

Hi,

I have had a run in with these people too.

I recieved this yesterday-

'' Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat. Concerning your question all bills are included in the rent and it a house and not flat. My house is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my house. I spoke with my lawyer have in my house and we both agreed to have you in my house.

However,it is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view my house 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. I have traveled all the way from Ireland to take some interested candidates round my house because that's where i work with (P. Elliott & Company).

Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are in London, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

Henceforth, my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on seriousness and financial ability to pay for my rent before coming for viewing. I would not ask you to send your bank statements or pay slip . At least 1 month rent of 880 GBP plus the security deposit £400 which is refundable after your 1 month stay in my house, would be required from you to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer agent to your trusted friend or relative in UK premises as a Receiver

Once you have done this, scan the receipt to me and if you do not have scanner, you may write out the details on the receipt as i will send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your friend's custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the viewing.

Note that the transfer must be confirmed valid before the receiver picks up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

I look forward to reading from you soon. +447024010306

Regards
Mr/Mrs Brehn

ENDS

The email address which this was sent from was- [email protected]

I have also received this repy from the same advert posted on gumtree- it's a different name but very clearly the same scammers-

''The following are the basic details you need to know about the flat which is located at Hammersmith Road, Hammersmith London W6 7JF

Rent Per Month: £ 500.00
All bills inclusive.

Refundable security deposit : £ 500

House use are:

Gas central heating
wi-fi internet
phone
Washing machine
Microwave
Dish washer
refrigerator.

The flat is fully furnished and equipped with all necessary house facilities also benefits a secured parking space but i can make it unfurnished if prefer. Kindly reply for further information.

Regards
Mrs Mason

With this one- the email address in question is- [email protected]

It is very irritating as it puts me off the site entirely- these were two of the three replys I had in the first day- they must be targetting practically everyone!

Be aware people!

Welcome cornishgirl, thanks for posting. I'm glad you didn't fall for this scam.

The scammer was reported here:

viewtopic.php?f=39&t=10601&p=48742

He has changed his email address, probably because the other one has been closed. But he is still using the same phone number - a re-direct number which passes calls on to anywhere in the world like all numbers beginning with +4470......

Hi,

This person is still running their scam. I had the exact same message as cornishgirl:

"Thanks for the reply and the sincere interest you have in my flat. My flat is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my flat. I spoke with my lawyer on phone concerning the interest you have in my flat and we both agreed to have you in my flat.

However,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. I have traveled all the way from Ireland to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work with (P. Elliott & Company).

Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are in UK, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.

Henceforth, my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on seriousness and financial ability to pay for my rent before coming for viewing. I would not ask you to send your bank statements or pay slip . At least 1 month rent £240 plus the security deposit £500 which is refundable after your 1 month stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer agent to your trusted friend or relative in UK premises as a Receiver

Once you have done this, scan the receipt to me and if you do not have scanner, you may write out the details on the receipt as i will send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your friend's custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the viewing.

Note that the transfer must be confirmed valid before the receiver picks up the money and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.

I look forward to reading from you soon. +447024092891 +447024080536

Regards
Mr/Mrs Brehn"

When I responded that I wasn't comfortable doing this as I had read of scams like this, I got the response:

"I wouldn't want you to get me wrong, the idea of making a confirmation of your financial ability is not only my idea, my solicitor and i decided to use that process and i can't violate my solicitor procedure. I am a God fearing woman and i am not after your money. I have my own work and i earn enough money for my family and also to help the less privileged.

However, i didn't want to collect any money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat. All what i request of you is to transfer the deposit to someone close to you through Western Union Money Transfer, once you've done that, you get back to me with a scan copy of the transfer receipt so that i can forward it to my solicitor to confirm if the transfer is valid.

After the confirmation might have been made by my solicitor, i will ask you to tell your friend to pick up the money and schedule a convenient day for the viewing. If eventually you don't want to proceed with the rent, i promise to return the cost of the transfer without any deduction.

I look forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Brehn"

I haven't answered and I don't intend to. The only thing I would like to warn others of, is that cornishgirl was responding to an ad for a flat in London, whereas I was responding for one in Bristol that was exactly the same ad, exactly the same pictures and exactly the same price. It seems this person is placing the ad for every available area of the country, which means a lot more people are likely to fall for it. Just thought I would put this out there.