Rental Scammer - [email protected]

from: Hannah Pearce [email protected]
reply-to: [email protected]
to: Michelle Banks
date: 7 October 2012 11:36
subject: Re: Regarding flat in Wetherell Place.
mailed-by: gmail.com
Signed by: gmail.com

Hello,

Thanks for the response. My flat is available on short/long term tenancy. I am willing to have you in my flat as long as you view the flat and like it. It is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view or reserve my flat without any form of confirmation of their seriousness and not keeping up to time as at when scheduled, has brought about great loss to me. I have travelled all the way from Coventry to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work. Some do not have the money for rent, some would not even show up at all while some would come with the aim of renegotiating.

Henceforth, my solicitor and i have decided to carry out a simple test on seriousness and financial ability to pay for the rent before coming for viewing. I am not asking you to pay before the viewing but at least, one month rent together with the security deposit £ 400 which is refundable would be required from you to transfer to a family member or friend through Money Gram money transfer using your name as the Sender and your friend or family member's name as the 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 forward it to my solicitor to verify if it's truly genuine and available, after verification, i will ask you to inform the receiver to go and pick up the transfer and thereafter, we can proceed with the viewing where you would sign the tenancy agreement and perhaps the keys handed over to you. Note that I will refund the cost of transfer when we meet for viewing.

Kindly let me know if my explanation is well understood and don't hesitate to reply back if you don't understand.

Regards
Mrs Pearce

The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send (by Western Union) money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected. You will never get to see the accommodation or your money again.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment by Western Union before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.

from: Hannah Pearce [email protected]
reply-to: [email protected]
to: Michelle Banks
date: 8 October 2012 09:33
subject: Re: Regarding flat in Wetherell Place.
mailed-by: gmail.com
Signed by: gmail.com

Hello,

Thanks for getting back to me. I would have loved to schedule a viewing with you directly or ask for your bank statement, pay slip or any other means of making a confirmation of your financial ability to rent my flat but some prospective tenants have misused the opportunity in the past by providing fake documents and as i stated in my previous email that the idea of making a confirmation of your financial ability to rent my flat is not only my idea, my solicitor and I decided to use the procedure and i wouldn't want to violate my solicitor's procedure because he's my personal legal counsel.

However, i didn't want to collect any money from you as long as you have not signed 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 the Money Gram transfer agent, 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 of the transfer valid, I will email you so that you can inform the receiver to go and pick up the transfer.

Thereafter, we would proceed with the viewing at your own convenient time and if eventually you don't want to proceed with the rent, i promise to return the cost of the transfer without any deduction.

Kindly let me know if my message is well understood.

Regards
Mrs Pearce

Thanks for the flagging this email address. I knew there was something up when they signed the email Mrs Pearce.