Rental Scammer - [email protected]

I recently received many emails from this person after doing an internet search for accommodation for my daughter who is a student nurse at Nottingham University. Of course she saw the pictures sent and instantly wanted the flat, fortunately I don't trust anything that looks too good to be true. There is a telephone number listed and the email address used is [email protected] here are the emails:

Number 1
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat.My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent £400 pcm : £ 100.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 600.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Nottingham?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin

Number 2 received after I asked where the flat is:
Thanks for the swift reply.My flat is fully furnished in and out as you can see in the picture and there is a garage and a off street parking in my flat.My flat is still available for rent.I am willing to have you in my flat as long as you want after the viewing. It is unfortunate that my past 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 traveled all the way from Coventry to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work.Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who lives close by, also some do not meet up with the appointments.

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 of £ 600 which is refundable would be required from you to transfer to someone close to you through Western Union Money Transfer agent using your name as the Sender and your friend or family member's name as the Receiver in the UK premises.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 i will refund the transfer charges immediately after the viewing.

Kindly let me know if my explanation is well understood. Have a wonderful time.I 'll like you to know that,if you can get the transfer done today so that we can proceed with the viewing latest around 5pm in the evening or at your own convenience.

Best Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin
+447024023829

Number 3 when I insisted I needed an address to know whether it was suitable
Thanks for getting back to me.My flat is located at ng7 5fs Nottingham Nottingham City Centre radford road. I wouldn't want you to get me wrong and am not asking you to pay before the viewing, the idea of making a confirmation of your financial ability is not only my idea, my lawyer and i decided to use that process and i can't violate my lawyer procedure. I am a God fearing woman and i am not after your money. I have my own work and i earn enough money for my family and also to help the less privileged.

However, i didn't want to collect any money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat. All what i request of you is to transfer the deposit together with a month rent to someone close to you through Western union, 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 lawyer to confirm if the transfer is valid.

After the confirmation might have been made by my lawyer, i will ask you to tell you friend to pick up the money and schedule a convenient day for the viewing. If eventually you don't want to proceed with the rent, i promise to return the cost of the transfer without any deduction.Western union is the fast and easiest way to send money.

Kindly let me know your opinion in time in other to avoid time wasting.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin

This is indeed a scam - spotted it on a website last week (June 8th 2014)

I have had this conversation but supposed to be in Worthing and lady supposed to be in Coventry!

Watch out for anyone who wants money quickly!

UK number the start with +4470 are redirect numbers that can forward calls to any location in the world. These numbers are used by scammers to hide their true location.
Legitimate businesses in the UK do not use these numbers.

When I got to this telephone number, +447024023829, in the email I knew is was a scam.

[email protected]

Thanks for the reply.

As you requested here is my bank details

name -Miss E Osazuwa
Acc number- 47301877
sort code- 07-02-46
Bank name - Nationwide

Kindly get back to me as soon as possible with the scan copy of the transfer receipt as soon as the transfer is don so that i can move for the confirmation and we can as well schedule a convenient time with the viewing.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin

[email protected]

Here is my lawyer's bank account details;

Bank name: Barclays
Account name: Lloyd Ehojie
Account number: 63620786
Sort code: 20-29-77

Please let me know when you will get the payment done

.

Hi Everyone
I also wanted to add that this person is a Scammer
but will try catch them

here is the add re LEEDS and placed on this website
..........

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat.My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.

Rent £400 pcm : £ 100.00 pw
Security Deposit: £ 600.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in UK?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you. Have a wonderful week ahead of you.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin



Thanks for the swift reply.The flat is fully furnished as you can see from the picture and there is a garage and an off street parking for the flat.The flat is still available for rent.I am willing to have you in the flat for as long as you wish after the viewing. It is most unfortunate that my past experiences of inviting people for viewing or reservation of the flat without any form of confirmation of their seriousness and not keeping up to time as and at when scheduled, has brought about great loss to me. I have traveled all the way from Coventry to take some interested candidates round the flat because that's where i work.Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb me to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who lives close by, also some do not meet up with the appointments.

Henceforth, my solicitor and i have decided to carry out a simple test on seriousness and financial ability to pay for the rent before viewing. I am not asking you to pay before the viewing but at least, the security deposit of £ 600 which is refundable would be required from you to transfer to someone close to you through Money Gram Post Office Transfer agent using your name as the Sender and your friend or family member's name as the Receiver in the UK premises.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 i will refund the transfer charges immediately after the viewing.

Kindly let me know if my explanation is well understood. Have a wonderful time.

Best Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin
+447509531978


Stay well away but hey there maybe some justice.

Hello everyone,
I copped on to the scam while eyeing up a number of quite nice flats in the center of London with prices to be too good to be true (you knowhow the saying goes). Although the replies came from two different names and email accounts I noticed the dialog was oddly similar. " Mr/Mrs Kelvin "...Mr/Mrs Doyle and same badly scripted " can you be neat and tidy " ..pay a money gram ....etc etc
So beware out there "Stella has more than one alias. I played along to see how much info I could get and managed to bypass the money gram BS. Instead I was sent an actual deposit account with Barclays (see below all contacts & details so far). Another thing of interest is that if you contact her using a Gmail account, the name 'Anita Lawson' appears on the side which is the name of her Google account, which she registered using [email protected]..
I reckon she's also using a Laura Doyle alias with email: laura doyle <[email protected]> because her replies were to similar especially when you see Mr/ Mrs in the title
Check out below listed averts on Housepals.co.uk with corresponding email address + Bank Account.
Cheers Dustcloud

Mr/Mrs Kelvin
Housepals.co.uk Enquiry: Advert Ref #15295
Name/ email: Stella Kelvin <[email protected]>
Mob. 07746001543
Google Account name registered: Anita Lawson
Bank Details:
Bank Name: Barclays Banks
Account Name: Stella Kelvin
Sort code: 231884
Account no 27377076 (Noted - MB)

Mr/Mrs Doyle
Housepals.co.uk Enquiry: Advert Ref #15468
Name/ email: Laura Doyle <[email protected]>
Mob. pending
Google Account name registered: Laura Doyle
Bank Details: (Same one used for Stella Kelvin)
Barclays Bank acc. no: 27377076
Sort code: 231884

Hello again - Found another Alias - this time Mr/Mrs Tracy Becks (Same scammer, different name)
Heres her (usual) calling card ..... sound familiar ?
"Thanks for the interest you have in my flat.My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.
Rent £400 pcm : £ 100.00 pw, Security Deposit: £ 500.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.
However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you. Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in London?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you.
Regards
Mr/Mrs Becks

Details so far:
Mr/Mrs Becks
Name/ email: Tracy Becks <[email protected]>
Mob. pending
Google Account name registered: Tracy Becks
Bank Details: (Pending)

^^^^ Thank you for posting and helping others avoid this kind of Cyber Crime

The Banking details have been reported to the appropriate authorities

Hello Michelle,
Thank you for your support. I've just updated my previous post with another alias being used on Housepals.co.uk. I'm pretty sure there are others but I just haven't received a reply yet in order to verify. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reporting the bank details to the authorities. Whoever is doing this, seems to think they're untouchable because they're obviously getting away with it. This is an awful scourge as most people who rent can't afford to have a deposit robbed when they just about to move house.
If I come up with any more clues I'll forward them on to you.
Cheers Neal

For the bots since original post was edited.

Hello everyone,
I copped on to the scam while eyeing up a number of quite nice flats in the center of London with prices to be too good to be true (you knowhow the saying goes). Although the replies came from two different names and email accounts I noticed the dialog was oddly similar. " Mr/Mrs Kelvin "...Mr/Mrs Doyle and same badly scripted " can you be neat and tidy " ..pay a money gram ....etc etc
So beware out there "Stella has more than one alias. I played along to see how much info I could get and managed to bypass the money gram BS. Instead I was sent an actual deposit account with Barclays (see below all contacts & details so far). Another thing of interest is that if you contact her using a Gmail account, the name 'Anita Lawson' appears on the side which is the name of her Google account, which she registered using [email protected]..
I reckon she's also using a Laura Doyle alias with email: laura doyle <[email protected]> because her replies were to similar especially when you see Mr/ Mrs in the title
Check out below listed averts on Housepals.co.uk with corresponding email address + Bank Account.
Cheers Dustcloud

Mr/Mrs Kelvin
Housepals.co.uk Enquiry: Advert Ref #15295
Name/ email: Stella Kelvin <[email protected]>
Mob. 07746001543
Google Account name registered: Anita Lawson
Bank Details:
Bank Name: Barclays Banks
Account Name: Stella Kelvin
Sort code: 231884
Account no 27377076 (Noted - MB)

Mr/Mrs Doyle
Housepals.co.uk Enquiry: Advert Ref #15468
Name/ email: Laura Doyle <[email protected]>
Mob. pending
Google Account name registered: Laura Doyle
Bank Details: (Same one used for Stella Kelvin)
Barclays Bank acc. no: 27377076
Sort code: 231884

Hello again - Found another Alias - this time Mr/Mrs Tracy Becks (Same scammer, different name)
Heres her (usual) calling card ..... sound familiar ?
"Thanks for the interest you have in my flat.My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit.
Rent £400 pcm : £ 100.00 pw, Security Deposit: £ 500.00 (Returnable at the end of a week stay in my flat)
Utility bills inclusive ( water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet) Utility Cost : £ 0.00 pcm.
However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you. Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in London?. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.

I look forward to reading from you.
Regards
Mr/Mrs Becks

Details so far:
Mr/Mrs Becks
Name/ email: Tracy Becks <[email protected]>
Mob. pending
Google Account name registered: Tracy Becks
Bank Details: (Pending)

Of course not,
No worries
Dustcloud

See additional Bank details and tel no. 07746001543 received from Alias Stella Kelvin:
(same scammer as alias Laura Doyle & Tracy Beck )
these are the last 2 emails received after I informed the scammer that my attempt to pay the deposit failed

22 Oct (5 days ago)
To: Stella Kelvin

Hello Mrs. Kelvin
I will be able to pay a deposit today please forward your payment details for the deposit and contact details.
Please advise when a viewing would be possible.
Thanks & brgds

From: Stella Kelvin
22 Oct (5 days ago)

Thanks for getting back to me.I will be looking forward to receive the receipt soon and also i will like you to know that the transfer is to be done by online banking. Here is my details of account.

Bank Name: Barclays Banks
Account Name: Stella Kelvin
Sort code: 231884
Account no 27377076

I will be looking forward to reading from you soon.

Regards
Mr/Mrs Kelvin
07746001543

Continued below

*****************************************************************************************************************************
Rental Scammer - Alias Laura Doyle
Here's the latest replies from Laura doyle with another bank account - this time Natwest (scroll down for details.)

22 Oct (5 days ago)
To: Laura Doyle

Hello Mrs. Doyle,
I will be able to pay a deposit today please forward your payment details for the deposit and contact details.
Please advise when a viewing would be possible.
Thanks & brgds

From: Laura Doyle
23 Oct (4 days ago)
Sorry for my late reply,
Here is my details for the transfer right away
Laura doyle
Sort code: 231884; account no, 27377076
Barclays Banks

Email to me payment confimation right now for verification and together with your phone number so that I can give you a call , there after we can do viewing at 6pm today or your convinient

Regards

Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 13:50:47 +0200

23 Oct (4 days ago)
To laura doyle

Hello Laura,
I went online to transfer the £500 deposit but it seams the the Barclays account you quoted is not working ?? The message I get is GB-BARC 27377076 Account Inactive ??
Do you have any other account where I can transfer the money?
Brgds

From: laura doyle
23 Oct (4 days ago)
My account is not correct ? That is not possible. Try it again , my husband transfer money to me today
Sort code: 231884;
account no, 27377076
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 18:08:06 +0200

From: Laura doyle
23 Oct (4 days ago)
Try this.

Account number : 79622003
Sort code : 60-23-23
Bank name: Natwest bank

Update 28.10.2015
Laura Doyle has sent me yet another Account as I questioned why I couldn't transfer money to the others
Here's the latest email received:
From: laura doyle
11:21 (2 hours ago)
Here is it.

Account number : 79611915
Sort code : 60.23.23
Bank name: Natwest bank
Laura doyle
Email to me the payment confirmation for verification.
Regards

Dear Michelle,
You're welcome to inform the authorities,
Brgds Dustcloud

NEW ALIAS FOUND: Begum Aklima
It seems our Laura Doyle character has gotten tired of my queries and has sent me a 'get lost' email, however I received yet another reply from same scammer this time with a new alias:
Begum Aklima <[email protected]>

Here's the familiar invite letter...

Begum Aklima <[email protected]>
19:43 (19 hours ago)
Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. The flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due. Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit. Rent per calendar month is £400 { includes all bills : water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet} also Security deposit of £400 And it is protected by the Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme(http://www.depositprotection.com/)%7bRefundable after four weeks in the flat}.
However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you. Can you keep my flat clean and tidy?
Do you have housing references? phone number in which i can reach you? i will appreciate if you can get back to me with all this information. Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat.
etc etc

Latest update
On 28 October 2015 at 16:34, Begum Aklima <[email protected]> wrote:

You can contact me via +447024034020
___________________________________________________________________________________
Investigation continues....
Attn all: This tel no. is already well known and has been noted on a number of previous rental scams !!

A thought......
Because I used the same name and email address for all the above aliases, I find it odd that all interacted through their dedicated email addresses as if I was a unique target. I'm starting to think their may be a number of individuals operating in tandem using the same prefixed protocols for initial phase email replies and then for further correspondence they continue on their own to try to lure a catch emmmm ???
Anyone else think this might be a possibility ? Also considering their were quite a few Bank accounts made available for deposit transfer.
See below the next phase protocol which keeps popping up. Keeping in mind that the so called Laura Doyle has F'd me off for wasting her time I'm still receiving yet another identical prescripted email reply from Begum Aklima. So either this individual has a serious short memory or there are a team of scammers using prescipted protocols to pray on renters. (See below)

Here's the continuation from Alias: Begum Aklima

18:40 (7 minutes ago)

I WANT A PROOF OF YOUR FINANCIAL ABILITY THAT YOU ARE SERIOUS,SINCERE AND ABLE TO PAY FOR THIS FLAT.

Thanks for the reply and the information provided. My lawyer and i have both agreed to make a reservation for you so you don't need to be worried as long as you have promised you will take proper care of my flat just the way it is. However, my lawyer asked me not to collect any money from you as long as you have not sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat so he decided to make a confirmation of your financial ability before we proceed with the reservation.
Henceforth, my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on financial ability to pay for my rent upfront prior viewing and reservation. I would not ask you to send your bank statement nor send money to my account. All you need to do is making at least 1 month rent of 400 GBP and security deposit which is £400 which is refundable after your 1st week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer via western union. Make the transfer with your family member or friend's name as a sender and your name as a receiver to your present flat address.

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 send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your custody, after verification, then we can proceed with the reservation and you can easily pick up the money at the nearest western union outlet when you arrive to my flat and also, i will refund the cost of transfer when we meet.

PLEASE NOTE:

DO NOT MAKE THE PAYMENT TO ME OR IN MY NAME SINCE YOU ARE YET TO SIGN THE PAPERS AND I AM YET TO TAKE YOU ROUND MY FLAT, WHAT I NEED IS JUST AN EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE THE CASH AVAILABLE IN WESTERN UNION TO CONVINCE ME YOU CAN AFFORD TO PAY FOR THE APARTMENT AND YOUR GENUITY. MY LAWYER WILL CALL WESTERN UNION TO CONFIRM THIS AND I WILL GET BACK TO YOU SO YOU COULD PICK THE MONEY FOR YOURSELF WHEN YOU GET TO MY FLAT AND I WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE VIEWING.

I look forward to reading from you soon.+447024034020
Regards

To be continued ......

I've just been in contact with a laura doyle at the same email as stated before. This was for one in Nottingham she claimed she lived in Brighton so couldn't do a viewing when I asked if someone else could do it she asked me if I could read, so yeah I think she must be getting annoyed that less and less people are falling for her scam. She sent the emails in the exact same wording as others on this site, truly don't think this is a very clever person. Do I need to let housepals know about this or will it not help anything really?

Flats for rent in Manchester SCAM: laura doyle ([email protected]) 2nd December 2015

First reply to the add email was the same as her and Stella email :

Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due.
Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit. Rent per calender month is £420 { includes all bills : water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet} also Security deposit of £500 And it is protected by the Tenancy DepositProtection Scheme(http://www.depositprotection.com/){Refundable after four weeks in the flat}.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in Manchester and do you have a landline number in which i can reach you? i will appreciate if you can get back to me with all this information.

Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat

Regards
Mr/Mrs Doyle

And then the Money part itself :

Thanks for the reply and the information provided.I and my lawyer have both agreed to make a reservation for you so you dont need to be worried as long as you have promise me that you will take proper good care of my flat just the way it is.
However, my lawyer asked me not to collect any money from you as long as you have not
sign a contract neither have i taken you round my flat so he decided to make a confirmation of your financial ability before we proceed with the reservation.

Henceforth, my lawyer and i have decided to carry out a simple test on financial ability to pay for my rent before coming for viewing. I would not ask you to send your bank statement. At least 1 month rent of 420 GBP and security deposit which is £ 500 which is refundable after your 1st week stay in my flat,would be required from you to transfer through the western union agent. You can make the transfer with your family member or friend's name as a sender and your name as a receiver to an address in Manchester and you can as well use my flat address. 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 send it to my lawyer to verify if it's truly genuine and available in your custody, after verification, then we can proceed for the reservation and you can easily pick up the money at the nearest western union outlet when you arrive to Manchester and also, i will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.
I look forward to reading from you soon.

my reply :

Sure, I'll try to do this asap.
May I ask for your lawyer name and registration number ? Seams to be a smart guy, want to talk to him so he can help me with some documents.
regards,

and instant reply from her:
what business do you have with my lawyer ? he is just my personal legal adviser okay.

They just need the ability to print IDs to match known names to their address.

Please do not send her money and do not tell her that you know that laura doyle ([email protected]) is a SCAM !!! (we don't want her to change her details).

king regards,
El Barto

Hello.

I'm actually looking a place to live in Sussex and I got a mail from that "Laura Doyle"
Fortunately, I had the idea took make a search of that name before accepting anything

Here is the conversation we had.

1- "Thanks for the interest you have in my flat. My flat is still available for rent and you can stay in my flat as long as you pay your rent at when due.
Here are the necessary things you need to know about the rent and deposit. Rent per calender month is £322 { includes all bills : water, gas, council tax, TV license and wireless Internet} also Security deposit of £600 And it is protected by the Tenancy DepositProtection Scheme(http://www.depositprotection.com/){Refundable after four weeks in the flat}.

However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to know some few question about you.Can you keep my flat clean and tidy? Do you have references in worthing and do you have a landline number in which i can reach you? i will appreciate if you can get back to me with all this information.

Kindly reply for further information and i will like to know where you are coming from to stay in my flat

Regards
Mr/Mrs Doyle"

Actually he/she says the rent is for a flat, but the ad was for a house. So I wanted more informations and asked

"I wanted to ask you the exact address of the flat to organise my trip.
And as well, who is your lawyer? As though I can introduce his/her name to my own lawyer.

Thank you.
Marie"

2- "it is unfortunate that my past bitter experience of inviting people to come and view my flat without any form of confirmation of their financial ability and not keeping up to time as at when scheduled, has brought about great loss to me. I have traveled all the way from far to take some interested candidates round my flat because that's where i work.Some outside tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they disturb the the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative who are in UK,also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees."

Here you can notice that the writing scheme has change and no answer for my questions....

So I ended the conversation saying this was not a real answer and by the way, I have other flat visits to make. So her/his was not my priority.

Hope that's helps a bit