Rental Scammer - [email protected]

From: Hamlett Gilbert <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 5:17 PM
Subject: RE: Immaculately clean, affordable 2 bedroom apartment
To: Michelle Banks


Hello,

Thanks for your interest in my apartment .The apartment is still available for rent and is available for long term/short term
lease. I'm a Engineer and I just secured a new job with Engineering & Construction Corp in London England. I work as a electrical project engineer and i will be here for long that is why am putting up my apartment for rent.

The apartment is located at: 850 Saucier Ave, Kelowna, BC V1Y 2Y9, Canada

This unit is available as long as you want it, is a 2 bedroom/ 1 bathroom apartment with living room, kitchen, and bathroom, laundry in the unit, hardwood floor, storage space available, pets friendly apartment is strategically located in a very cool and lovely environment with many appliances including dish washer, parking space available, the rent is $770 per month including utilities..I will like you to drive by to the building today to view the exterior of the building for you to know where the apartment is located and get back to me so that I can forward you the full interior pictures for you to have an idea on how beautiful and spacious the inside looks and we can proceed to the next step which is the application process..
Thanks for taking your time in writing me and hope to hear back from you.
Many thanks

This person asks for a deposit payment via Western Union, MoneyGram, pre-paid credit card 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.

I just got an email that is the same as this for the same apartment in kelowna, but under a different email and name as above. I didnt find it suspicious, i actually just googled the address to find out where it was and this site came up. thank goodness i realized! I would not send money anyways to a random landlord but im glad i found out it was a scam so i wont waste my time.

Here is the ad:
http://kelowna.craigslist.ca/apa/4667763860.html

Here is the email:

Hello,

Thanks for your interest in my apartment .The apartment is still available for rent and is available for long term/short term
lease. I'm a Engineer and I just secured a new job with Engineering & Construction Corp in Algarve, Portugal. I work as a electrical project engineer and i will be here for long that is why am putting up my apartment for rent.

The apartment is located at: 850 Saucier Ave, Kelowna, BC V1Y 2Y9, Canada

This unit is available as long as you want it, is a 2 bedroom/ 1 bathroom apartment with living room, kitchen, and bathroom, laundry in the unit, hardwood floor, storage space available, pets friendly apartment is strategically located in a very cool and lovely environment with many appliances including dish washer, parking space available, the rent is $770 per month including utilities..I will like you to drive by to the building today to view the exterior of the building for you to know where the apartment is located and get back to me so that I can forward you the full interior pictures for you to have an idea on how beautiful and spacious the inside looks and we can proceed to the next step which is the application process..
Thanks for taking your time in writing me and hope to hear back from you.
Many thanks
Hamlett Gilbert < [email protected] >

^^Thank you for the update. This will help others.

If you can not physically go inside the property with the landlord consider it a scam. Never send money to someone you never met face to face. Sometimes these scammers ask you to send money to yourself, friend or relative. They will say it shows proof you are willing to rent. They will have you send the information on the money sent and they will pick it up themselves using fake information.