Rental Scammer - [email protected]

Hi all,

I just registered so I could warn those even more naive than me. I exchanged a few emails with this person, who claimed to be renting a flat in Feike de Boerlaan, 50, Oostelijk Havengebied, Amsterdam. At first the story was, she lives in England now and no one had the keys to show us the flat and she'd been burnt before by people who'd lied to her and wasted her time. I have to confess this actually sounded reasonable to me, even though she also told me to go have a look from the outside and sent me 3 pictures of a very cataloguey-like nature, I assumed at some point she'd come over to Amsterdam if she was interested in renting it out. My eyes were opened when she sent me a horribly fake-looking passport scan (could be real, I suppose, looked really vile though) as proof of her honesty and told me that if I sent her 1130 euros (rent + deposit) she'd be convinced of my good faith and would be willing to come to Amsterdam. I actually found her name and her address ([email protected], always the same) in a Black List student housing site, she pretends to be renting flats all over Holland. One person even sent her 500 euros, I do hope this will help others not be scammed. EDITED TO ADD: I just googled the pictures she sent me (you can drag any image into Google Images) and one, the bedroom, can be found in an ad for a flat in Belgravia, London.
http://s1158.photobucket.com/albums/p60 ... ums%2Fp606%

Thanks Arrakis for the warning! It will help other victims.

arrakis, this apartment is actually up for rent through an official agency:

http://www.pararius.nl/Appartement-te-h ... an/728498/

as you can see, the rent is nowhere near to what you were asked to pay - including the deposit! the apartment is large for amsterdam standards (112 m2) and very close to the center of town. the original ad is in dutch, and there is only a very short description available in english - without the mentioning of 'oostelijk havengebied'.

for the kind of rent (i suppose you're looking for sth in the range around 500 euros?) you're able and willing to pay, you'll barely find anything in the center of town, and it will usually be just ONE room:

http://www.pararius.com/apartments/Amsterdam/500-800/

please avoid sites like craigslist, where 99 out of 100 ads are scams.

also, the amsterdam municipality bureau for housing is monitoring regularly if a 'sublet' is illegal, since ALL housing under 700 euros a month rent, is only available for dutch citizens with a registration. whatever contract you might have signed, you do risk to be evicted and lose money and the roof over your head!

Norman, luckily I didn't reach victim status!

Vries, good catch! I am new to this house-hunting thing (clearly) but meanwhile have learnt a few things, including what areas in Amsterdam to avoid and what areas will fetch what prices. I also learnt that I shouldn't even bother with Craigslist, I only found one legit offer, whole hours of my life wasted! I had never used it before so I basically just replied to anything that looked remotely feasible. The problem with many of these ads was that no information about the street was given (now I know that's a horrible sign) and I'd been intensively looking at listings for days and feel overwhelmed at times, otherwise I'd have realised it was impossible to rent a flat for such a cheap price sooner. We'd been looking at other price ranges too but now I know, like you said, that it's impossible to find more than a room for the prices they listed, and even that sort of equals a perfectly horrible room. Thanks for the warning, though, it was much appreciated.

I am so glad I saw this. I found her on gumtree.com and she claimed to have a 1 bed flat available on 1 White Horse London W1J 7LB for 500pm. Her first email sounded genuine but I still found it too good to be true so did some research and found complaints about her. She sent me a copy of her passport too which just looks fake. Here is the email she sent me

"Hi,
I really appreciate you have interest in my flat, The apartment is conveniently located in the heart of Mayfair (1 White Horse Street, London, W1J 7LB )..the flat is fully equipped with modern facilities. wireless internet service, dishwasher, microwave, washing machine and air conditioner. The rent is 500pounds monthly including all bills and the refundable security deposit is 50pounds.I have been here in the Birmingham for past 1month with my family due to transfer at place of work and we will be here for 4 years. So, i am renting my apartment for maximum of 4years and minimum of 1 month.

As regards viewing, I'll suggest you visit and view the apartment from outside since you don't have the keys. However, If you insist viewing the apartment from inside, it means my presence would be required. I have in the past had bad experience with prospective tenants such that my time and effort was wasted when I came all the way from Birmingham, please understand my point. Can you believe I received a lot of proof from some tenants as well, like passport, job contract showing their earnings, bank statements yet i was disappointed when I came down, they are still asking if the price could go lower and some also ask me to wait for them until they get paid, So I'm not interested in documents anymore.
This viewing will make you to have the information about the apartment, It's environment, the facilities the apartment has to offer which I believe it will further assist you in making your decisions. The interior is the best you can ever imagine, so don't have doubts because this apartment is cheap compare to other apartments in its category. Please, feel free to view like I've suggested and let me know if you are still interested thereafter and if you're ready to make reservation of the flat.

Regards,
Adriana"

and I replied back to her and her response back was

"I really appreciate your interest in my flat, the flat is fully furnished for your needs, i have all the keys with me and there's nobody to show you the inside. So In renting the apartment and order to reserved the flat for you,we will both sign a rental agreement contract form then i will post the keys of the apartment plus other necessary documents to you or i should come back to London and hand over the keys to you in person. I was in London few days ago for viewing and i was very disappointed as the prospective tenant just wasted my time.
I wouldn't like this to happen to me again that's why i gave you the address of the flat to make exterior viewing before i come back, therefore advance rental fee 500pounds and security deposit 500pounds in total 1000pounds will convince me to come back with 24/48hrs after the payment has been received.I'm not after your money this just has to be done, Do get back to me with the below information so that we can proceed further:

Your full name:
Your full address:
Nationality:
Move in date and out:

With those information,i shall prepare the rental agreement which will be signed by you and me. When you have the contract, you will have to print it out, sign it and scan it back to me along side with the payment receipt (to be transferred into my bank account).
The address you provide in the mail is where keys and other necessary documents will be posted.

Attached to this email is my passport page just to proof to you that your money is very safe and secured this just has to be done before i come back.

Regards,
Adriana"

Think she needs to be reported to the police! Stay away from her by all means!

Welcome to ScamWarners sunny0. Please post up the email address of the scammer you encountered if it is different from what was posted above.

I was almost taken in by the same scam for a 1 bedroom flat in Brixton that I saw on gumtree. I received identical emails from: [email protected] and told to transfer the money to her before I'd even seen the flat. The property was 228 Brixton Hill. I'm considering reporting her to the police.

Welcome to ScamWarners Warning others. The name you have been given is not the real name of the scammer. Most likely, the name of the scammer is a West African male's name.

The police cannot really act on this because no crime has been committed. You recognized the scam and didn't lose money.

What the police can do is get the news outleds in your area to caution the community about the scam. That would be a good thing for everyone.

Me and my partner just nearly got scammed of 900 euros!

Adriana Whiteaker went by this email address this time: [email protected]

This was a flat in Utrecht that seemed way too good to be true. Lucky we googled her!

Same wording however now its in the London.

Email: [email protected]
Name: Jermain Hertogs

Hi,
I really appreciate you have interest in my flat, the apartment is conveniently located in the heart of London ( 20 Nella Road, fulham road,W6 9PB) very close to station.. the flat is double bed and fully equipped with modern facilities. wireless internet service, dishwasher, microwave, washing machine and air conditioner. The rent is 600pounds monthly including all bills and the refundable security deposit is 700 pounds. I have been here in Glasgow for past 1 month with my family due to transfer at place of work and we will be here for 4 years. So the apartment is available for short and long term rent.

As regards viewing, I'll suggest you visit and view the apartment from outside since you don't have the keys. I have in the past had bad experience with prospective tenants such that my time and effort was wasted when I came all the way from Glasgow, please understand my point. Can you believe I received a lot of proof from some tenants as well, like passport, job contract showing their earnings, bank statements yet i was disappointed when I came down, they are still asking if the price could go lower and some also ask me to wait for them until they get paid, So I'm not interested in documents anymore.
This viewing will make you to have the information about the apartment, It's environment, the facilities the apartment has to offer which I believe it will further assist you in making your decisions. The interior is the best you can ever imagine, so don't have doubts because this apartment is cheap compare to other apartments in its category. Please, feel free to view like I've suggested and let me know if you are still interested thereafter and if you're ready to make reservation of the flat.

Pl ease find the attached pictures

Regards,
Jermain

I got similar email from Jermain Hertogs. He offered an apartment in The Hague on http://www.expatriates.com/. The rent was EUR 500 for the whole apartment which was too good to be true. So I googled him and this page popped up.

Here is the email he sent:
Hi,
The apartment is fully furnished for your needs, i have all the keys with me and there's nobody to show you the inside of the apartment when you arrived and you need to understand that the apartment can't be reserved for you without the proof that you have the cash for the rent. So In renting the apartment and order to reserved the flat for you,we will both sign a rental agreement contract form then i will post the keys of the apartment plus other necessary documents to you or i should come back to Den haag and hand over the keys to you in person. I was in Den haag few days ago for viewing and i was very disappointed as the prospective tenant just wasted my time.
I wouldn't like this to happen to me again, therefore advance rental fee 500euro and security deposit 600euro in total 1100euro will convince me to reserved the apartment for you and come back to hand over the keys to you the day you will arrived. I'm not after your money this just has to be done and I'm ready to refund your money back to you same day we meet if the apartment is not the same as it's appears in the pictures, Do get back to me with the below information so that we can proceed further:

Your full name:
Your full address:
Nationality:
Move in date and out:

With those information,i shall prepare the rental agreement which will be signed by you and me. When you have the contract, you will have to print it out, sign it and scan it back to me along side with the payment receipt (to be transferred to me into my bank account).
The address you provide in the mail is where keys and other necessary documents will be posted.

Attached to this email is my passport page just to proof to you that i am not after your money and your money is very safe and secured this just has to be done before i come back.

Regards,
Jermain