Rental Scam in London - [email protected]

I have just found my own flat advertised on the website http://www.renthunt.co.uk. My flat is being offered for rent by a Robert Thys.

Robert Thys is a scammer who has no connection to my flat.

I have looked at the website http://www.renthunt.co.uk and I believe that every property advertised is a scam. All the rents are far too low for London (£88 a week for Harley Street - that would be cheap if we time-travelled back to 1973).

The photos and descriptions of individual properties have been copied from legitimate sites offering flats for sale and for holiday lets (like my own), sites such as http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk.

Renthunt.co.uk warns of "fraudulous activity" on its site and suggests that tenants make checks before handing over any money.

Please do not reply to any ads on renthunt.co.uk as it is a site set up by fraudsters for con men and scammers.

While we certainly understand your frustration, it is important not to to jump to conclusions without supporting evidence. In this case, finding several fake ads on a classified listing site does not make the site itself a scam.

Sites that allow free classified ad listings tend to become overrun with scammers, especially when they don't screen the ads or do any IP verification. You will find this is even true of certain sections of the major, respected classified sites (and dating sites too). Scammers will take every opportunity they can find to pick up a new audience, and if the site has no warnings or contains warnings that are not prominent, it will be even more abused by scammers.

In looking at the site renthunt.co.uk, the first thing to look at is the registration.

Domain name:
renthunt.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 14-Dec-2009
Renewal date: 14-Dec-2013
Last updated: 10-Dec-2011

The site has been around for over 2 years, and the domain name has been reviewed. This is not typical of a scam site. Scam sites are usually registered for the minimum period of time, and then dropped.

Checking the site itself: There are no unsupported claims, mismatched dates, stolen logos, or attempts by the site to sell you something. The site is one of several linked sites using the exact same design template--checking a few other sites using that template, all of them have been registered for over a year. Checking out one of the other sites, the ads typically have phone numbers, and those numbers differ from ad to ad but are in the appropriate geographic areas in general.

With that said, our site investigators will still take a more thorough look at the site(s) -- but at this point, there is not sufficient evidence to prove that the site is anything more than an essentially unmoderated free classified ads site.

I am so grateful I found this web site. I was almost one of the victim of this. Lucky I have noticed all the grammar errors. And when they say I need to pay through western union I know this is a scam because in any legit companies or agencies if we need to pay something they should have their own company bank account.

I still maintain Renthunt is a scammer site. It is a good one. My reasons are

1. I have requested that the fraudulent ad displaying photos of my flat and using my descriptive text is removed. It has not been removed. In the past, when legitimate sites have unwittingly taken fraudulent ads, they have been keen to remove them and have emailed to thank me for pointing it out.

2. Strange use of the phrase 'Head District' for any London postcode ending in 1. I've never seen this before and it suggests to me that person behind the site has no knowledge of London or the UK.

3. My photos are now being used as a 'featured listing' on the home page. To get this extra advertising, the scammer who has copied my photos has to pay Renthunt.co.uk '$25 a month'. Do you find it credible that a scammer will be paying $25 a month?

4. I have looked through many of these ads on the site. They haven't changed in months. I am sure they are all fake.

Can I ask you to look at it again?

Hello listsinc ,
You have some valid points but it still does not prove this site is a fraud. Stealing your images and posting them on another website is a copyright issue and something that we do not deal with here.

I am send you a pm with additional information.