Has anyone come across this name?

Barry Hendrix. Email [email protected]. I'm currently looking for property & as i have been scammed before (lost money & made homeless) i am really careful. Well this guy responded to a ad i posted on gumtree & now he's seeming a bit pushy. Maybe that i'm being over cautious but........i need to be.
Thanks

That e-mail address doesn't come up as one being used by a scammer, but that means nothing.

We'd really need to see an example of a mail he's written you to make a realistic judgement, of course, with your personal details and name removed.

It's a worry that the person has mispelled their own name and that would make me look at anything he's written very carefully.

The 1st flag for me was the miss-spelt name. The 2nd was when i told him that i couldn't stretch to £800 per month he quickly said 'thats ok i'll accept £500. Otherwise the emails are pretty harmless & honest looking.

Hi

I have had this guy reply to my wanted add on gumtree too. when I asked where the property was he first off said that it was in the area where i posted my add. I thought this was a bit strange, in his next email he told me the address.
is the property you are looking for in Bristol too?

I also thought it was funny that he has his name spelt incorrectly but this could be because the correct spelling may have already been taken on googlemail.

the most worrying thing for me was the transfer of money before even a viewing:


PROCEDURE:

1) Transfer the the amount £1,100 (1 month rent and security deposit) to your friend in United Kingdom.
Your Name (as Sender) to your Friend (as Receiver) in United Kingdom .

2) Scan & Send a copy of the Western Union transaction receipt as a proof of the transaction or mail me the transaction details. (The money is safe as it is only your Friend that can pick the money Up .after My solicitor have confirm that the money is with the western union,I will arrange a Viewing for you

3) Then, we will meet for viewing.

4) If you decide to take the property, we will go to any local Western Union office close to my property and pick up the money and pay me. (You don't need to come with cash to view, after viewing we will go together, your friend will pick the money Up and then you can pay the rent to me.

5) Keys will be handed over to you after signing the contracts.

I am pretty sure that the transaction at Western Union office will require some charges, i will definitely refund the Western Union charges back to you upon viewing .

I only want to be sure that i am not going to waste my time this time around and i think with this condition, both of us can be sure we are not wasting our time.

Let me know if you are okay with this so that we can proceed. Thanks so much while i will be waiting to read from you and i am looking forward to meet you and be great friends eventually.

NB: PLS DO NOT MAKE PAYMENT TO ME OR IN MY NAME, WHAT I NEED IS JUST AN EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE THE CASH TO PAY ONCE YOU HAVE VIEWED.

I don't think anyone should do this just in case!!

That is exactly what he emailed me 5 mins ago!!!!! these ppl are just sick!!!

The 'send a payment to your friend because it will be quite safe ploy' is only used by scammers to steal money.

It doesn't have any other function. It doesn't do anything else other than to enable him to steal your cash. If he only wanted to see that you have the cash, you could send him a copy of your bank statement but he wants your cash in his pocket.

He will insist on the MTCN number and tell you any lie to try to persuade you that he can't do anything with it - but that's just a plain old-fashioned lie.

If a UK property owner doesn't have a UK bank account in their own name, then you're dealing with a scammer, and sending money by Western Union to someone you don't know is a certain way to end up never seeing it again, or getting anything for your cash.

Yeah I know, I have heard of so many people being scammed through the use of Western Union.

Was the property you were looking for in Bristol?
Just wondering to see if he is covering a larger area. Did he attach pictures too?

When I asked where the property was he first off said that it was in the area where i posted my add. I thought this was a bit strange, in his next email he told me the address.

The scammer has no property and is looking for victims, not looking to rent out a flat. If he mentioned an address he would lose potential victims, and it would waste his time and effort doing research. He looks up details only after he gets a response from a potential paying victim.

No the property he contacted me with is in Derby. He's even sent me a phone number.

Let me guess--the phone number starts with 44-70 or 44-87...

These are redirect phone numbers used by African scammers who are pretending to be in UK.

Please post the scammer's emails--these are a script he will most likely reuse, so posting them will help to alert other victims.

It's never easy to be specific about how scammers work and they have varying degrees of knowledge and intelligence. Some undoubtedly work from within the UK and others have contacts here who will supply information to them.

The bottom line is that anyone who asks you for payment by Western Union is a scammer. Having said that they can enlist innocent mules or associates to launder money through their bank accounts, but most prefer the cash option.

Ask for a copy of the council tax demand in their name. It isn't a sensitive financial document but if you have checked that you are paying money into an account in the same name, at least you know where to go to seek recourse if things go wrong.

The number starts 07024. It's unbelievable that these ppl can get away with doing this.

Yes, that is a redirect number.

To call it from outside the UK, you would omit the first 0, and add +44 ... therefore it is a +44 70 number, as mentioned by Dotti above. All calls made to that number will be redirected to the scammer's mobile phone, wherever he is really located - most probably West Africa.

this guy tryed to scam me today idiot ,replied to add i put on gum tree but forgot where i said i was looking for property so said that he needs my advert number i said sorry dont know what it is he then said ok what area are u looking for property i said well u should know u mailed me,after one hour of stupid emails i said ok i am in ireland and then he said i have 2 bed house for rent all bills included,he said but before u can view it u must send me 1100 pounds so i can varify that u got the money send by western union lol ,so i said to him your scam is total rubbish noone is guna fall for that and guess what no reply lol oh boy they really are sad bunch of people lol