Rental Scammer - [email protected]

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From: Geraldine Geraldine <[email protected]>
To: Con Warner
Sent: Monday, November 5, 2012 11:11
Subject: Room available

Hello,

Am Geraldine ,am 23 years old, My father owns the flat but is now late ,i live alone in the flat, Am a professional, I have been pretty busy , however, the room is still available .

I`m British and i moved here 2years ago after the death of my father to oversee my late fathers property.

The flat has 3 rooms ,One is for me and the other Two is available for rent.

The room has the following amenities:

The room has a very big bed that can sleep two people with
Television connected to cable
Small refrigerator apart from a big freezer in the kitchen
Private bathroom with toilet drawer
Reading desk
Wall cupboard
Internet connection

The Apartment has the following Amenities:

Washing Machine
Heater
Dish washer
Storage
A big living room fully furnished with a television connected to cable
Internet facility .

The transport facilities is quite okay in the area, the flat is very close to train station and public transport.

The rent per month is 500 Euros and a security deposit of 700 Euros ,The security is refundable, at the end of your stay in my flat, the security deposit will be refund back to you, The rent include all bills and bills are for Gas , Water , Electricity ,phone ,heater,internet connection.

I will send to you some pictures of the room and the rental agreement form to see what next to do, hope you understand me? Thanks once again for the interest in my room while waiting to read from you.

I will like to know about you.

I will like to have your skype id so that we can have a chat if you don't mind .

Best Regards,
Geraldine

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union, MoneyGram or bank transfer with a promise that you can have the keys to a property that does not belong to him.

Sounds safe. It's not!

At other times, he will ask for proof that you are able to pay the deposit and rent due to a string of time wasters.
This proof is in the form of a Western Union or MoneyGram payment to a lawyer,a friend or family member.

In either case, if payment is made and you give this person the details, they will collect the money.
You will not hear from them 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 Craigslist, Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment 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.

PLEASE MAKE PAYMENT AVAILABLE TO MY MOTHER THROUGH HER BELLOW INFORMATION
NOT LATER THAN 12 HOURS YOU RECEIVED THIS AGREEMENT FORM VIA WESTERN
UNION MONEY TRANSFER TO THE FOLLOWING INFO:

MRS BROOKS LATOYA
12,WELLESLEY ROAD,
CROYDON,LONDON.
CR0 9XY,UNITED KINGDOM..

I've been in touch with this girl for two days, to rent a room in Oslo...
Today I received a mail from Con Warner about her being a scammer...
I didn't pay anything to her, but I gave her my phone number, and she has the copy of my ID card...
I also signed the contract and sent it to her by mail, even if I don't think it's in force, because she didn't sign the same copy...
I have all the screenshots of our skype conversations, and all the other files... I can send them to you if you think they're useful...
Do you think she could do something with my data? Or being a scammer she won't use them?
I'm not used to this kind of stuff, it's the first time I try to rent a room abroad

P.S. in my case, the name of her "mother" was different, if it can be of any help...
Mrs. Brooks Shante
23, Aidwych Street, London
WC2B 4RH UK

My full name is Marina Lai... If this man tries to contact you by using this name you'll know it's a fake doc

As you suspected, it is possible he will reuse your information in another scam. You are being proactive about that, and this is good.

The "contract" is irrelevant. Even if it's a legal contract, and the other party signed it, it would still be null and void, because (a) the scammer is using a fake name and (b) he doesn't own the property in the first place! You can't have a valid landlord-renter contract when the "landlord" has no authority over the property .

As long as you only gave basic information and no sensitive personal and/or financial information (e.g. bank, credit card numbers), you should be safe from any real harm.

A girl called me 10 minutes ago, speaking in english... I suspect the scammer is actually a woman, or in case he's a man he probably has a partner. In any case, as you suggested I blocked him/her on skype, facebook, and hang up the phone, without asking her the name...
She's still sending me mail asking for an update...

Here's the fake facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/catherinelacom?fref=ts