by tenantscam
Tue Jun 11, 2013 7:59 am
I saw an ad for an apartment for rent here http://www.myhome.ie/2535535 (It has since been removed). The apartment was €600 per month for a gorgeous 2 bed in Dublin city centre (ridiculously cheap). I was a bit suspicious but emailed the advertiser nonetheless. This is a transcript of the back and forth after my initial email with my personal details omitted for obvious reasons:
Me
Dear Robert,
I am emailing you in regards to your listing on myhome.ie for an apartment for rent in Mountjoy Square.
I was wondering about the possibility of arranging a viewing of the property, at a time convenient to you. When is the property available to move into?
Also, as a general enquiry, what would you require from prospective tenants?
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards,
[My name]
"Robert"
Hello,
I just read your e-mail regarding my apartment located in : 33 Mountjoy Square, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1?. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathrooms and 1 kitchen. I bought this apartment for my daughter during her studies in Ireland, but now she's back home permanently, so I'm renting the place for unlimited time.
Before we go any further I would like to know a little something about you, like how many persons you intend to live in the apartment, and for how long.
The flat is exactly like in the pictures, fully furnished and renovated. Also, very important, the utilities (cold/hot water, electricity, wireless broadband Internet, digital TV, 1 parking spots, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator, washing machine, etc.) are INCLUDED in the price of 600EURO/month. As for me, you can rest assured that I will never ask you to leave the apartment. My daughter is building her life here, and i am too old to move to Ireland, so we won't disturb you.
You can use my furniture, or you can also use your own if you prefer. If you decide to use yours, you will have access to a very large and well ventilated cellar, where you can store my furniture.
Now, a little bit about myself so we can get to know each other better. My name is Robert Wirtz and I'm a 58 years old graphic designer from London /United Kingdom, planning to retire in the next 2 years.
I have a lovely wife,Sarah and a 25 year old daughter, Maria. I am very proud to say that soon I'm going to be a grandfather
. Another member of our family is a 8 year old Labrador which we all love, so, I have no problem if you will keep pets.
The only inconvenience is that my job doesn't allow me to leave London even for one single day. We just hired some new staff and I'm in charge of their training.
But this won't affect you at all. I can make arrangements to rent the apartment from London (on my expense of course).
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
All the best from United Kingdom!
Robert Wirtz
44 Edgware Road
London
W2 1ED
United Kingdom
Me
This email contained details of my age, employment etc. Nothing too specific but I'm not going to share here due to the mod rules. The email ended with
"We're extremely interested in renting this apartment from you. When would it be available for a viewing and, if everything works out, when would it be available to move into?"
"Robert"
Hi,
Thank you for your reply but the matter is that I'm in London already. Like I have inform you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 600EURO, with no extra taxes to pay. The money, I want to revive it monthly to my bank account, so I hope it will be no problem for you to wire the money to my bank account. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys and the contract to check it, and see if you like it.
Obviously we need a way to complete this deal, that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after. In order of that I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a company called TNT which is similar to FedEx, DHL or UPS, which will handle both payment and delivery of the Keys.
I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the rent of the apt only after you will receive the keys of it and through this way you will see it and decide if you will stay in the apt or not before I receive my payment.Please click on the link bellow to the TNT website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company where the procedure is explained: http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/h ... ivery.html
Let me know if you are interested please because I really need to take care of this matter by the end of this week or the beginning of the next one.
Note the change in tone of the email from the first one.
When I received this email I instantly became suspicious. I emailed him back to try and suss if it was a scam or not:
Me Hi,
That all sounds great. Would it be possible to arrange a Skype call with yourself later this evening to go over the finer details? Some details can get lost via email, this would be a better way of exchanging and understanding the necessary details in as quick and clear a manner as possible. Obviously you would like to rent this apartment as soon as possible, and we would like to rent it as soon as possible.
How would you like the rent to be transferred? Direct debit via bank would be ideal. When can we view the apartment as, needless to say, we are quite excited about it.
Many thanks,
(My name)
I did a Google street view search on his address and lo and behold...it's a building site. http://goo.gl/maps/0vHsY
I also Googled his email address and found another listing on a Norwegian site that was pulled due to "suspected fraud". I am awaiting a response from my last email. Any advice on how I should approach this? I want to try and extract as much information as possible before I go to the Fraud Squad. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!!!
Me
Dear Robert,
I am emailing you in regards to your listing on myhome.ie for an apartment for rent in Mountjoy Square.
I was wondering about the possibility of arranging a viewing of the property, at a time convenient to you. When is the property available to move into?
Also, as a general enquiry, what would you require from prospective tenants?
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards,
[My name]
"Robert"
Hello,
I just read your e-mail regarding my apartment located in : 33 Mountjoy Square, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1?. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 bathrooms and 1 kitchen. I bought this apartment for my daughter during her studies in Ireland, but now she's back home permanently, so I'm renting the place for unlimited time.
Before we go any further I would like to know a little something about you, like how many persons you intend to live in the apartment, and for how long.
The flat is exactly like in the pictures, fully furnished and renovated. Also, very important, the utilities (cold/hot water, electricity, wireless broadband Internet, digital TV, 1 parking spots, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator, washing machine, etc.) are INCLUDED in the price of 600EURO/month. As for me, you can rest assured that I will never ask you to leave the apartment. My daughter is building her life here, and i am too old to move to Ireland, so we won't disturb you.
You can use my furniture, or you can also use your own if you prefer. If you decide to use yours, you will have access to a very large and well ventilated cellar, where you can store my furniture.
Now, a little bit about myself so we can get to know each other better. My name is Robert Wirtz and I'm a 58 years old graphic designer from London /United Kingdom, planning to retire in the next 2 years.
I have a lovely wife,Sarah and a 25 year old daughter, Maria. I am very proud to say that soon I'm going to be a grandfather
. Another member of our family is a 8 year old Labrador which we all love, so, I have no problem if you will keep pets.The only inconvenience is that my job doesn't allow me to leave London even for one single day. We just hired some new staff and I'm in charge of their training.
But this won't affect you at all. I can make arrangements to rent the apartment from London (on my expense of course).
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
All the best from United Kingdom!
Robert Wirtz
44 Edgware Road
London
W2 1ED
United Kingdom
Me
This email contained details of my age, employment etc. Nothing too specific but I'm not going to share here due to the mod rules. The email ended with
"We're extremely interested in renting this apartment from you. When would it be available for a viewing and, if everything works out, when would it be available to move into?"
"Robert"
Hi,
Thank you for your reply but the matter is that I'm in London already. Like I have inform you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 600EURO, with no extra taxes to pay. The money, I want to revive it monthly to my bank account, so I hope it will be no problem for you to wire the money to my bank account. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys and the contract to check it, and see if you like it.
Obviously we need a way to complete this deal, that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after. In order of that I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a company called TNT which is similar to FedEx, DHL or UPS, which will handle both payment and delivery of the Keys.
I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the rent of the apt only after you will receive the keys of it and through this way you will see it and decide if you will stay in the apt or not before I receive my payment.Please click on the link bellow to the TNT website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company where the procedure is explained: http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/h ... ivery.html
Let me know if you are interested please because I really need to take care of this matter by the end of this week or the beginning of the next one.
Note the change in tone of the email from the first one.
When I received this email I instantly became suspicious. I emailed him back to try and suss if it was a scam or not:
Me Hi,
That all sounds great. Would it be possible to arrange a Skype call with yourself later this evening to go over the finer details? Some details can get lost via email, this would be a better way of exchanging and understanding the necessary details in as quick and clear a manner as possible. Obviously you would like to rent this apartment as soon as possible, and we would like to rent it as soon as possible.
How would you like the rent to be transferred? Direct debit via bank would be ideal. When can we view the apartment as, needless to say, we are quite excited about it.
Many thanks,
(My name)
I did a Google street view search on his address and lo and behold...it's a building site. http://goo.gl/maps/0vHsY
I also Googled his email address and found another listing on a Norwegian site that was pulled due to "suspected fraud". I am awaiting a response from my last email. Any advice on how I should approach this? I want to try and extract as much information as possible before I go to the Fraud Squad. Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!!
Thanks!!!
Last edited by Con Warner on Tue Jun 11, 2013 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Changed topic subject
