by Con Warner
Wed Feb 12, 2014 10:15 am
From: [email protected]
To: Con Warner
Hello,
My name is Josephine Schoonover and I received your email of interest for the rental of my apartment located in Boulevard de Waterloo 96, 1000 Brussels. The apartment have 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom.
I am a research engineer for a pharmaceutical company and I bought the apartment while working on a 2 year contract in Belgium as an alternative to renting. I am the only owner of the apartment, the apartment is paid in full and with no legal problems. The apartment is not inhabited since I am no longer living in Belgium. You could be my second tenants.
My intention is to rent the apartment to nice, clean people and in order to do that I would like to know a little something about you, like how many persons do you intend to live in my apartment, do you have a steady income ,etc
In addition to everything else here is a little something about the apartment and myself so we can get to know each other.
The apartment is the one in the pictures from the advertisment. I have the option of sending all my furniture into storage if you want to bring your own (no extra costs)
The rent for 1 month is 500 euro (for the entire apartment) including all utilities (water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking, air conditioning, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator, private washing machine). Security deposit is also 500 euro, and you get it back, when you decide to leave the apartment (you will have to give me at least 30 days notice). You can rent the flat for any period of time (open end contract).
About myself, I am 39 years old and I am a research engineer for pharmaceutical products, currently living in London, my home town .
You can move in the apartment in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m already in London but I hope that we shall find a solution.
Thank you for your interest and looking forward to a future collaboration and friendship.
Best regards,
This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union or MoneyGram to an escrow company with a promise that he will send the keys through a courier company.
Sounds safe. It's not!
The emails claiming to be from the company are fake.
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.
