Room for Rent and other rental scams
by Michelle Thu Jun 24, 2010 5:27 am
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:49:46 +0200
From: [email protected]
Subject: URGENT PLS....
To: Michelle

Thanks so much for the quick response.


However, At this stage that you want to rent my flat, i need to ask some few questions from you. Can you take care of my flat as it is? How many months do you intend to rent and pay for? Do you have references? 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, this has brought about great losses to me. I have traveled all the way from Ireland to take some interested candidates round my flat.Because that's where i work with Elim Pentecostal Church.


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 residing in the city, also some do not meet up with the appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.



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 4weeks rent(£400) and security deposit (£600) which is refundable after your first week stay in my flat, would be required from you to transfer through Western Union Money Transfer. You can make the transfer with your name as a sender and your partner,mum,dad, or friend in the UK premises as a receiver..



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 friend's custody,after verification, then we can proceed for the viewing and you can as well tell the receiver to pick up the money.I will refund back to you the cost of transfer when we meet.



Kindly reply or call if you have more questions to ask. +447031844671




Regards


STEVE....


The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send (by Western Union) money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected. You will never get to see the accommodation or your money again.

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 Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment by Western Union 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.
Advertisement

by kldonaldson Fri Aug 06, 2010 7:53 pm
I was actually in contact with the scammer with regards to renting a place in York, UK.
This site proved immensely useful when i googled his email address.
Alarm bells started ringing when he refused to give me basic details which I asked for.
He did not get so far as to arrange a viewing/money transfer but he did say that he would not discuss conditions of lease until I had met with him and viewed the flat.
I dont know if this man is attempting to execute this scam in various UK cities, but be aware.
I found the listing in question on Gumtree.

Thanks for potentially saving me a lot of money!

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: ClaudeBot and 22 guests