by MrTr0y
Mon Jan 23, 2012 6:10 pm
from Richardson Kelly [email protected]
reply-to Richardson Kelly <[email protected]>
date 22 January 2012 21:50
subject Apartment in Groningen
mailed-by yahoo.com
Signed by yahoo.com
Hi,
Thanks for the mail, i am so happy to let you know that the apartment is still very much available for rent.Here are some important information about the apartment. The apartment cost 400euro per month including all bills such as water, electricity, gas, internet e.t.c plus 500euro for security deposit payment which is refundable while packing without any lost or damage of my properties.The apartment is located at Praediniussingel 11, 9711 Groningen, Netherlands and it is close to the central station,the apartment is spacious, it is about 40sqm. Restaurant and public transport are available around and it's a walking distance to the supermarket, so it's located in a very nice and safe area in Groningen.
Attached are some pics of how my apartment looks like. Hope to read back from you so that we can proceed further.
Best regards,
Richardson.
After I enquired about the reason for this very low monthly rent (I estimate the real value of a furnished apartment in this particular neighbourhood to be at least €1000 / month), the scammer sent me this very implausible explanation:
Hi,
Thanks for the mail. I am glad you liked my apartment and i will gladly rent it out to you if you can assure me that you will take good care of it in my absence because i am presently in UK, i just came down here to work and i am with the keys of my apartment. Formerly i drop my keys with estate agents and friend to handle the shipment for me but they mismanaged my apartment and cheated on my past tenants so i had to stop using them and i decided to rent my apartment myself. My apartment looks cheap because i am renting it out directly and there are no agency fees or commission added to the rent. I already sent you the pics so that you can see how the place looks like. I will wait to hear your opinion on this so that we can proceed. You simply reach me on +447045765886 for more discussion.
Best regards
Richardson.
This is implausible because real estate agents generally do not "cheat on" tenants. Also, the mediation fee charged by estate agents (at least those in the Netherlands) is usually a one-off fee paid by the renter after signing the contract, normally amounting to 1 month's worth of rent + VAT. There's no monthly commission to the realtor involved. Therefore, not using an estate agent can never cause the monthly rent to be 60% under market value.
After assuring the scammer that I would take good care of his apartment, he sent me this:
Hi,
Thanks for the mail. I will rent my apartment to you since you have assured me you will take good care of it. Since you can't call tonight maybe we continue discussion via email today and you can call me tomorrow during the day. For you to get the place reserved we will both sign a rental agreement contract which will be prepared by my lawyer then i will post the keys of the apartment and the payment receipt to you via DHL express (1-2 days delivery ) after your deposit payment which is your first month rent and the security deposit has been confirmed. Please get back to me as soon as you can as i will need some info from you which i will send to my lawyer to prepare the rental agreement contract.
Hope to read back from you soon.
Best regards,
Richardson.
The scammer claims to be in the UK and promises to mail the keys after reception of the first month rent plus security deposit (=€900). Obviously, he doesn't intend to ever send the keys. It's a scam.
