Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: Thomas Harrison <[email protected]>
Date: 30. lokakuuta 2013 11:11
Subject: Re: Yhteydenottopyyntö kohteestasi Jokakoti.fi:ssä!

Hei,
Pahoittelen, että otan yhteyttä englanniksi, mutta en osaa suomea kovin hyvin.
I am sorry but I do not speak Finnish very well. I am British, I live and work in London, United Kingdom. The apartment that I have for rent, I bought it as a holiday house for me and my family. I'm having some financial difficulties at this time so I have decided to rent out the apartment for an additional income. I am looking for a long term rental (1 year or more).
The apartment is located at Aleksis Kiven katu 56, 00510 Helsinki.
The apartment is fully furnished, ready to move in as you can see in the photos. It comes with storage area in the basement and parking space. If you are not planning on using any of the stuff I have there you can put it in the storage area.
The rent is 560 Eur/month (it includes common costs, internet, cable-tv). Electricity is not included, you will have to pay for that separately.
The deposit is 1120 Eur (fully refundable at the end of the contract unless you damage something and you don't fix it).
I will not be able to be present for viewing, therefore I spoke to my real estate agency here in London and they said that they will take care of the whole transaction. They have a Property Management service that will basically take care of everything (contract, paperwork, bills, rent payment etc.)

So, in case we come to an agreement, this is how it works:
- You'll have to give me your full name, date of birth, telephone number and postal address. A copy of your passport or driving license would be great.
- Then I will forward your details to the real estate agency and they will start the process. They will contact you with more information regarding the transaction and also how to make the payment. You will have to pay the deposit and first month rent into the agency's bank account.
- After the payment is received by the agency, they will send you the contract and keys by courier and you will receive them in about 2-3 days.
- Since you haven't seen the apartment yet, the real estate agency will provide you with a 10 days Money Back Guarantee. This means that the payment will not be forwarded to me and you will have 10 days to decide if you'll take the apartment or not. If you don't like the apartment or if it is not as I have presented it to you, then you can mail back the keys to the agency and they will immediately refund your payment to your bank account.
- If you're satisfied with the apartment all you have to do is sign the contract and mail it to the agency. You will be paying the rent every month into the agency's bank account and they will forward it to me. The agency will also take care of the monthly bills (those included in the rent).

Before any agreement between us, the agency will send you a draft of the contract so you will have a clear idea of the content of the contract. It is a standard lease contract very similar to the one most finnish use provided by The Finnish Association of Landlords.

If you are interested, please let me know.

Regards,
Thomas Harrison
3 Durnsford Road
London, SW19 8FP
United Kingdom

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.

All the details such as names, addresses, pictures etc. that the scammer uses in order to back up his story, are stolen from elsewhere.

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.

Be warned, the fake real estate company that this scammer uses to ask victims to transfer money to is this: www.carr-realestate.co.uk. Don't be fooled!

Welcome, scourge!

We will investigate the website. Could you please post the email from this domain for evidence of the scam?

Dear Jillian,

I was a victim of this scammer. He asked me to forward the money through this fake agency. The email history between me and this Thomas Harrision was quite long. If you want, I could forward some of the history to you personally. It has my personal information in it?

The emails from this domain (via [email protected]) basically just asked me to go through this process: http://www.carr-realestate.co.uk/InternationalRent.html.

I really want to know how to report this website as a scam to warn other people who might get tricked as we speak. The website, to my anguish, is still active, and possibly may still be used by the scammer to trick more people.

i contacted the bank which this fake agency used to collect my money, Barclays UK, but they have yet to respond. I have their bank account number and other "fake" information here:

Account holder name:
Carr Real Estate
Account holder address:
London, N3 1XW, United Kingdom
Bank name:
Barclays Bank
Bank address:
All U.K. Offices
Bank sort code:
20-71-75
Bank identifier code - BIC/SWIFT:
BARCGB22
International bank account number - IBAN:
GB23BARC20717523960552

Most likely the scammer has removed this bank account by now, so there's not much use posting this here, but if he hasn't then it should warn potential victims.

[AlanJones]

Some initial research:

The company named on the website Carr Real Estate Ltd is a legitimate registered UK company.

The address used on the website and for the domain registration match that of the registered office of Carr Real Estate Ltd.

But

The name of the person who registered the domain does not match the name of the directors of the company.

The registered office address appears to be the address of a firm of accountants (not unusual for small ltd companies in the UK that do not need their own office/retail space).

The company looks to me like a property development company and not a rental agency.

Also, the site claim to be (c)2012, but the domain was only registered in 2013 and the real company has been in operation since 2005.

100% scam. Got that same exact mail, but with different name and location. When it sounds too good, it is too good to be true. Cheap rent, free parking place, etc. Thanks to scourge and this awesome site im now 100% sure it is a scam.

Now i will just play with this guy and make him/her believe that the money is coming. Also will create few more email addresses and play even more. Make that bstard think theres like 10k€ coming from Finland. Already enjoying this alot.

Hi Heffernan!

I'm glad you found out before its too late. I wasn't so lucky, as I got scammed a week before this thread even existed. I'm just surprised that this scammer still has the guts to keep scamming after this has been posted. Anyways, stay safe, mate!

Welcome H,

You might want to check out our sister site, http://www.419eater.com. Eater is dedicated to scambaiting, where we play the role of victim to get information from the scammers and make their lives more difficult. Eater will address how to bait safely (anonymously) and effectively. If the scammer has your real information, we recommend against continuing with him.

The email history between me and this Thomas Harrision was quite long. If you want, I could forward some of the history to you personally. It has my personal information in it?

The emails from this domain (via [email protected]) basically just asked me to go through this process: http://www.carr-realestate.co.uk/InternationalRent.html.

Please do forward me an email from the scammer, from this domain email address. Also please retrieve an email header which we will use to show the hoster that the email definitely came from the domain when we report it for fraud. You can email me at Jillian AT ScamWarners.com. Let us know if you need help retrieving an email header. The steps to do so are different depending which email provider you use.
I will post a scam email you send me here for evidence, making sure none of your information is included.

i contacted the bank which this fake agency used to collect my money, Barclays UK, but they have yet to respond. I have their bank account number and other "fake" information here:

Account holder name:
Carr Real Estate
Account holder address:
London, N3 1XW, United Kingdom
Bank name:
Barclays Bank
Bank address:
All U.K. Offices
Bank sort code:
20-71-75
Bank identifier code - BIC/SWIFT:
BARCGB22
International bank account number - IBAN:
GB23BARC20717523960552

We can and will report this bank account for you, through our contacts.

Let us know if you have any questions about any of this.

Thank you so much Jillian!

Please check your email, I have sent you the email history.

I have received the information, scourge. Thank you. I have reported the bank account and we will work on further investigating and reporting the website.

Please note that email headers from zoho.com do not reveal the correct originating IP address if you use webmail, so it is not possible to tell the actual location of the scammer from the email header.

The first email is the same text as that which was posted by Con Warner. Additional scam emails:

Thanks for the information and the ID copy! Everything sounds good but i must tell you that i am still talking to people before taking a decision since my wife is very picky when it comes to our future tenants. She thinks that not everybody has respect for other people's property, so i need to make an informed decision to please her. I'm not saying this is the case, just that it will take a few days for me to decide.

The agency is called Carr Real Estate Ltd. (www.carr-realestate.co.uk). I will ask them to send you a draft of the contract so you can read it and get a clear idea of the rental terms.
You can read more on the whole process here: www.carr-realestate.co.uk/InternationalRent.html
The 10 days MBG will be from 1st of December until the 10th of December.

How long are you planning on renting for?
Will you be living alone or with someone else?

Have a nice day,
Thomas Harrison

PS: I've attached photos.

Hello xxxxxxxxx,

Discussed the matter with my wife and we arrive to the conclusion that we would like to have you as our tenant. I consider that as long as the rent is paid on time and you will take good care of the apartment, we will get along just fine!

So, if everything is clear and you are ready, I will need you to confirm your personal details (full name, date of birth, address where the keys and contract will be delivered, phone number).

As soon as I have your confirmation, I will drop by the agency and make the arrangements!

Regards,
Thomas Harrison

Hello xxxxxxxxx,

Went to the agency this morning and started the process. The agency should have already contacted you with further information regarding the transaction and the invoice for the payment. I have received my copy of the notification about 1 hour ago so you should have it too.

Let me know if you have received everything and please keep me updated on the process!

Have a nice day,
Thomas Harrison

Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2013
Subject: International Rent - Transaction No. xxxx
From: [email protected]
To: xxxxxxxxxxxx

Carr Real Estate Ltd.
35 Ballards Lane
London, N3 1XW
United Kingdom
Company No. 05636077
www.carr-realestate.co.uk
International Rent - Transaction No. xxxx

Dear customer,
Through this message, Carr Real Estate Ltd. has the pleasure to confirm that your International Rent transaction has been started. In the content of the message below, you will find transaction information and future instructions regarding your transaction with our agency. In order to successfully complete your transaction, you must follow the instructions presented in the content of this message.

Thank you for using Carr Real Estate Ltd. Services!
Property information

Property type: apartment

Property address:
Aleksis Kiven Katu 56D, Helsinki, 00510, Finland

Property description:
1 room, 1 bathroom, kitchen, 1 storage room, 1 parking space

Property state:
fully furnished, fully equipped

Property size:
28 sqm

Rent:
EUR 560.00 / month

Deposit:
EUR 1,120.00

Landlord
Name: Thomas Harrison

Address:
3 Durnsford Road
London, SW19 8FP
United Kingdom

Telephone:
+44 703 191 9941

E-Mail:
[email protected]

Payment instructions
Complete your transaction safely by following our payment instructions!

In order to go further with your transaction, you must complete the payment of the deposit and the first month rent. The payment must be sent via Bank Wire Transfer to our agency's bank account. Your payment will be held in our agency's bank account until the transaction is complete (keys and contracts are delivered and the 10 days Money Back Guarantee expires).

The next step to be taken is to complete the payment of EUR 1,680.00 to our agency's bank account.
To avoid any delays with your transaction, please proceed with the payment in the next 48 hours.

Account holder name:Carr Real Estate
Account holder address: London, N3 1XW, United Kingdom
Bank name: Barclays Bank
Bank address: All U.K. Offices
Bank sort code: 20-71-75
Bank identifier code - BIC/SWIFT: BARCGB22
International bank account number - IBAN: GB23BARC20717523960552
Amount to be sent: EUR 1,680.00


Note: Attached to this message you will find the invoice issued by Carr Real Estate Ltd. for your transaction.
Payment confirmation
As soon as the payment is completed, you will have to provide us with the confirmation of payment. In order to do this, you must provide us the scanned copy of the document that certifies the wire transfer has been completed according to our instructions by sending it to our agency's e-mail address: [email protected]. Please remember to include your transaction number.

As soon as your payment is received into our company's bank account, you will receive a notification with further information regarding your transaction. We will take the next step of the process and we will take care of the delivery of the keys and contract through our certified couriers to the postal address that you have provided. It usually takes 2-4 working days for the keys and contract to be delivered. From the moment the keys and contract are delivered, the 10 Days Money Back Guarantee begins.
10 days Money Back Guarantee
According to our International Rent Transaction Policy, due to the fact that the tenant has not seen the property yet, Carr Real Estate Ltd. offers a 10 Days Money Back Guarantee. This means that the tenant will have 10 days to inspect the property and provide Carr Real Estate Ltd. with the final decision.

If by any reason, the tenant is not satisfied with the condition of the property, he has the right to void the transaction and ask for the refund of his payment. The tenant will notify Carr Real Estate Ltd. that he will not accept the property, then our agency will fully refund the payment within 24 hours. From the moment the tenant receives the refund, he must return the keys and contract back to Carr Real Estate Ltd. within 5 working days.

New fake website: http://www.abacusrealestates.co.uk/

Abacus Real Estates Ltd.
303 West End Lane
London, NW6 1RD
United Kingdom

Telephone/Fax
+447024090990/+447031991412
Email
[email protected]