Mrs. Emily Stewart? wants to rent us an apartment!

Hi there,

my name is Chris (20 years old), currently I live in Bonn, Germany and I am looking for a new flat.
I found a very very good offer, way cheaper than all the other ones, in a very central area, including all the furniture.
What I got was this mail:

"Hi there,

My name is Emily Stewart, I am 38 years old and I work as a project manager in London, United Kingdom. I received your e-mail of interest for the rental of my apartment in Heumarkt 27-29, 50667 Köln, listed at 480 EURO on immobilienscout24.de
I am the owner of the apartment and it is paid in full with no legal issues. I want to rent it because I inherited it of my father in 2006 and I never lived there because my mother and my father were divorced and I was raised by my mother to London, United Kingdom. I tried to sell the apartment but I could not obtain a fair price for him (because of the financial crisis) so I decided together with my mother to rent it to some nice people.
The apartment is exactly like you see it in the pictures, fully furnished, but I have the option of sending all my furniture into storage if you want to bring your own (no extra costs).
At this moment I am in London and I can not come in Germany because of my job, we have big problems with water infiltration at the foundation of a large building we are constructing here in London. But, you don't need to worry, I have made all the arrangements to rent the apartment from here after I decide to whom, an agency will take care of business for me.

Thank you for your interest and I will wait your e-mail !

All the best from London,
Emily Stewart"

I answered her and told her a lot about us, age, occupation, occupation of our parents, I sent a photo, etc...
Then I received this mail:

" Hello again,

Thank you for your prompt response, like I informed you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 480 EURO. The money, I want to receive it monthly to my bank account, I hope it will be no problem for you. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys to check it, and see if you like it. In order of that, as I told you in my previous email, I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well.
The solution is provided by a company called " ImmoExpress " from United Kingdom, they handle rentals in abroad all over the Europe (for people who have work contracts abroad, etc. ) I will pay for their services.
*I have received a lot of e-mail so I would like to know more details about you: your age, what's your occupation, how many people will live in my apartment and how long, also you can send me a picture with you, this just to know us better, it is very important for me to know who will live in my apartment, I think you can understand me...
And finally, I don't solicit deposit month, so I would like to know on how many months can you pay the rent in advance (minimum 2 months)

Depending on the answers received, I will make a selection and I will choose a potential tenant for my apartment.

Greetings,
Emily Stewart"


She did not at all answer my questions and gave me some informations I already had. Also she apparently didn't read my last mail, because she is asking for age, occupation etc...

Do you think she is a scam? Thanks for you help!

[AlanJones]

Hi thorpedo and welcome to ScamWarners.

A quick Google on one of the sentences brings up this - click here. Someone renting a different apartment but using the exact same script.

So it is a definite scam.

Hi AlanJones,

thanks alot for your quick help, I should've googled one or two sentences myself! I gave this scam informations about me, what I do, where I come from, and what my parents do for a living. I also sent a foto of us. Do you think this could be dangerous in any way?

Thanks again and have a great day

Christian

Welcome to Scamwarners thorpedo.

Please note these similarly worded scam mails;

Hello ,

I received your email of interest for the rental of my apartment in Mutschellenstrasse 10 ,Zürich listed at 1250 CHF . Before we go any further I would like to know a little something about you , like how many persons do you intend to live in my apartment , for what period , etc . I will tell you from the beginning that I don't have a problem if you are a student and I don't have a problem with pets (I own a little dog myself) .
Now , I am going to tell you something about the apartment and myself so we can get to know each other .
The apartment is exactly like in the pictures , fully furnished , renovated with taste and available from 2 months - 10 years . Also , very important , the utilities ( water , gas , electricity , Internet , cable TV , etc) are INCLUDED in the price of 1250 CHF/month .
About myself , I am 59 Years old , I am very respected economist and I work for a large company in Liverpool . I tried to sell the apartment but I couldn't get a fair price due to the financial crisis so I decided together with my wife to rent it to some nice people .
At this moment I am in Liverpool but I have made all the arrangements to rent the apartment from here after I decide to whom . I have received a lot of email for this apartment so I removed the announcement from the Internet , but is is still available .

Thank you for your interest and I will wait your email .

Shaw Peter Erick

Hello,
My name is Dahlia Edain Hosannah, I am a economist and I work for a large company in London.
I received your e-mail of interest for the rental of my apartment in Gessnerallee 48, Zürich listed at 1260 CHF .
The reason why I want to rent this apartment is because I inherited it from my father in 2007 and I never lived there because my mother and father were divorced and I was raised by my mother in London, United Kingdom. I tried to sell the apartment but I couldn't get a fair price for it (due to the financial crisis) so I decided together with my mother to rent it to some nice people.
The apartment is exactly like you see it in the pictures, fully furnished, but I have the option of sending all my furniture into storage if you want to bring your own (no extra costs). Also, very important, the utilities (water , gas , electricity , Internet , cable TV , etc) are INCLUDED in the price of 1260 CHF/month. You can move in the apartment in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I am unable to leave the United Kingdom because of my job, but you don't need to worry, I have made all arrangements to rent the apartment from here, an agency will take care of business for me (with no extra cost for you).

Thank you for your interest and I will look forward to hearing from you soon !

All the best from London,
Dahlia Edain Hosannah

Hello ,

my name is Daniel Bell and I am a retired electrical engineer at 65 years . I inherited the apartment in 1208 Genève, Rute de Malagnou 6, from my sister Maria Bell in 2007 but I never lived in that apartment because i am staying in Glasgow , Scotland for the past 30 years . I tried to sell the apartment but i couldn't obtain the price I was looking for so I decided together with my wife and daughter to rent it to some agreeable persons.
The apartment is exactly like you are seeing it in the photos , completely furnished, but I have the option to send all my furniture in a storage if you want to bring your own one ( no additional costs).
The rent for 1 month is 1000 EURO (for the entire apartment) inclusive all utilities (water, the electricity, the Internet, the cable, parking etc).
The period of minimal rent is 2 months up to 5 years.
You can move in the apartment in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that we cannot leave Scotland because we are too old to come and my daughter cannot leave her job . Maybe you have the possibility to come here to take the keys and in this way we can know each other better.
If you cannot come, you do not need to worry, I have done all arrangements to rent the apartment from here, with a british agency that will take care of the business for me (with no additional cost for you).
If we cannot meet face to face it is very important for me and my wife to see the persons who will rent the apartment at least on an webcam. So please add the Messenger address [email protected] for a video conference . Also you can give me your telephone number so my daughter can call you if you want to discuss by phone.

My best regards ,
Daniel Bell

These scammers are requesting information to make their scams appear more legitimate. I would suggest that you make your parents aware because they too could be targetted by scammers.

There is a very small risk of the scammer using your personal details in his crimes, but I repeat it is a very small risk. You need not worry about the scammer coming to your home. The criminals who perpetrate these crimes are almost always cowards who dwell in internet cafes. Travelling to a victims' home would cost them real money. It's not an attractive option for them. You are likely to receive more scam emails however. We suggest that you take a look at the many scams that are posted here to avail yourself of the methods scammers use to steal money from innocent people. Knowledge is power. In this case the power to protect yourself from scams in the future.

Hi Thorpedo

Of course Alan and The Enchantress are spot on, it is a scam.

While it is not ideal that you have given your personal details, it isn't the end of the world either.

Scammers want your details so they can guage how compliant you are mainly, however they will often create new identities from the details given to them by their victims.

Many people give their details just as you have so they generally have a good choice of who's identity they will assume. There is no way of knowing if they will adopt your name and if they do there is little you can do to stop it.

I am unsure of where you can report this in Germany, I know The US has a place to report identity theft and I presume Germany has similiar.

One of our members is in a better position to help you with this and he should be along shortly.

You are in no physical danger so long as you cease all contact immediately and do not antagonise them in any way, while they are not likely to travel to you, threats from them are not nice when they do know where you live

Pease be on the lookout for extra scam emails now and some may even have some of your real information to look more legitimate.

If you have any questions please ask

It's amazing what you can find with a little googling

http://www.egotour.eu/en/egotour/P42_1_ ... -beim-sir-

Gay Guide Cologne
Beim Sir
Heumarkt 27-29
50667 Cologne, Germany
Su.-Th. 14pm-1am, Fr./Sa. 14pm-4am
Men of every age. Mostly German music, tables outside

I'm not homophobic, nor do I have have anything against anyone who is gay, but you'd think someone renting a flat would mention it's located over a gay bar. The fact that it's likely to be playing loud music into the late hours would be important information for anyone wanting to rent the flat.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate the support.
It is amazing but also scary that two out of three flats I found on the Internet where rented by scammers.
After what you've told me it was really easy to identify the second one as another scam offer.
I am confident to be able to ship around such offers in the future, the whole exchange of information was really weird.
If there is an address in Germany where such crimes can be reported easily I will post it here. If you already have a German address, take it as a sign of good will.

It's very difficult to get arrests or to stop these criminals.

They may not live in the UK or Germany.

On our sister site 419eater we do the best we can to interfere with their operations, and I'll give some thought to giving attention to the ones offering flats for rent, as they are becoming very widespread.

Our main aim here is to educate, publicise and protect victims when we can.

It isn't hard to spot these scams, but if you aren't careful and you are trusting, it is very easy to lose money to these thieves.

Tell your friends and colleagues to be careful.

Hi, I'm living in Basel (Switzerland) and this week I had the same experience as thorpedo575, but the lady's name was Alexandra Bellarosa. I'll just paste the emails I've received in case of anyone decides to do a Google search on "ImmoExpress" or "Real Estate Scam" (that's how I found that this was a scam):
1ST EMAIL
Hi there,
My name is Alexandra Bellarosa, I am 38 years old and I work as a project manager in London, United Kingdom. I received your e-mail of interest for the rental of my apartment in Untere Rheingasse 13, 4058 Basel, listed at 999 CHF on immoscout24.ch
I am the owner of the apartment and it is paid in full with no legal issues. I want to rent it because I inherited it of my father in 2006 and I never lived there because my mother and my father were divorced and I was raised by my mother to London, United Kingdom. I tried to sell the apartment but I could not obtain a fair price for him (because of the financial crisis) so I decided together with my mother to rent it to some nice people.
The apartment is exactly like you see it in the pictures, fully furnished, but I have the option of sending all my furniture into storage if you want to bring your own (no extra costs).
At this moment I am in London and I can not come in Switzerland because of my job, we have big problems with water infiltration at the foundation of a large building we are constructing here in London. But, you don't need to worry, I have made all the arrangements to rent the apartment from here after I decide to whom, an agency will take care of business for me.
Thank you for your interest and I will wait your e-mail !
All the best from London,
Alexandra Bellarosa

P.S. Wenn Sie Schwierigkeiten in verständnisvollem Englisch haben, können Sie diese Übersetzungswebsite benutzen: freetranslation.com

The person listed above found your Ad on ImmoScout24 and is interested in it.

Property:

Title: Direkt am Rhein!!!
Reference no.: 1555344
Street: Untere Rheingasse 13
Postal code, town: 4058 Basel

2ND EMAIL:
Hello again,


Thank you for your prompt response, like I informed you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 999 CHF. The money, I want to receive it monthly to my bank account, I hope it will be no problem for you. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys to check it, and see if you like it. In order of that, as I told you in my previous email, I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well.
The solution is provided by a company called " ImmoExpress " from United Kingdom, they handle rentals in abroad all over the Europe (for people who have work contracts abroad, etc. ) I will pay for their services.
*I have received a lot of e-mail so I would like to know more details about you: your age, what's your occupation, how many people will live in my apartment and how long, also you can send me a picture with you, this just to know us better, it is very important for me to know who will live in my apartment, I think you can understand me...
And finally, I don't solicit deposit month, so I would like to know on how many months can you pay the rent in advance (minimum 2 months)

Depending on the answers received, I will make a selection and I will choose a potential tenant for my apartment.

Greetings,
Alexandra Bellarosa
Gross rent: 999 CHF

3RD EMAIL:
Hello again,


Thank you for your prompt response, like I informed you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 999 CHF. The money, I want to receive it monthly to my bank account, I hope it will be no problem for you. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys to check it, and see if you like it. In order of that, as I told you in my previous email, I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well.
The solution is provided by a company called " ImmoExpress " from United Kingdom, they handle rentals in abroad all over the Europe (for people who have work contracts abroad, etc. ) I will pay for their services.
*I have received a lot of e-mail so I would like to know more details about you: your age, what's your occupation, how many people will live in my apartment and how long, also you can send me a picture with you, this just to know us better, it is very important for me to know who will live in my apartment, I think you can understand me...
And finally, I don't solicit deposit month, so I would like to know on how many months can you pay the rent in advance (minimum 2 months)
Depending on the answers received, I will make a selection and I will choose a potential tenant for my apartment.
Greetings,
Alexandra Bellarosa

4TH EMAIL:
Hello,

It is ok for me. Now I will need to inform you the steps about how this service works and how we can make it happen :
1) To start this transaction I will need to know your shipping information (FULL NAME AND ADDRESS) to proceed with this deal.
2) I will go to agency Office, I leave them the Keys and I make all the arrangements to deliver the keys at your home address.
3) The agency will send you in your e-mail an official delivery notification to let you know they have the Keys and the papers in their custody.
4) At this point you will have to deposit the prepayment for my apartment to the ImmoExpress Agent assigned to handle our transaction.
* ImmoExpress is asking this from you because this is the policy of a real estate agency in abroad, they must have a warranty from the potential tenant before starting the delivery, they will only hold the money until you visit the apartment.
5) After the payment will be made, you have to email the agency with the payment details .
6) They will verify the payment and if everything is ok, the ImmoExpress Agent will bring you the keys at your address(in maximum 2 days) and you visit the apartment with him.
- If you like the apartment and you agree to rent it, you sign all the papers with the Agent and the transaction is finished.
- If you don't accept to rent my apartment, the ImmoExpress Agent will give your money back in the same day, you won't lose anything. As I said, I will pay the ImmoExpress service.

Please read carefully this e-mail and send me your shipping details only if you agree to these therms !

Thank you,
Alexaandra Bellarosa

5TH EMAIL:
i Elisa ,

The Agency has the office in United Kingdom (Mare Street, London E8 1HR, United Kingdom) but they handle rentals all over Europe, they have many years of experience in this line of work and they never had a bad deal. It is very simple ,they send an agent to show the apartment to the potential tenant.
Let me make two things very clear:
1) by paying you are not commiting to anything, you are just respecting a policy of an abroad rental company. The money that you pay are 100% refundable (including transfer fees) at visitation time. The agent will have the money with him and he will give them to you if you don't like the apartment.
2) you are not paying to see the apartment, the money that you pay represent the rent for my apartment with utilities included.
I also have a question for you : Do you think that I would go through all this trouble if the apartment was not like in the pictures ?! Would I send an agent and pay 365 Euro for a service if the apartment was not in a good condition ?! I am not an absurd woman, I just try to rent my apartment, what can be bad in this?!!?
Also you must understand that the abroad rental process is not like the rental process in your country. There they would send the agent a few km to show you the apartment, when in my case they sent the agent a very long distance. This is why the rental comany requests the down payment in advance...

Tomorrow morning I will go to the Agency office and I will make all the arrangements for the delivery. As soon as I will finish, they will send you in your email an official payment invoice, here you will find all the shipping informations and all the payment instructions you need to start this transaction.

Please follow them and everything will be ok !

Thank you, keep in touch !
Alexandra

6TH EMAIL (FROM ROYAL IMMOEXPRESS LTD:
[IMAGE] << Welcome to Royal
ImmoExpress LTD Agency >>Our company is the European market leader in
Rentals through mail services .


02.09.2009 [IMAGE]
Third Party Service reduces risks associated with Internet transactions
by acting as a licensed neutral third party for online transactions. The
seller delivers the package to one of nearest Royal ImmoExpress LTD
agents for the evaluation of contents. The package will remain in the
company custody until the receiver will send the payment through a Money
Order Service. After verifying the funds, Royal ImmoExpress LTD is ready
to ship the parcel to the desired address. [IMAGE] NOTE: We order
to avoid the earlier pick up of the funds by the shipper based on fact
that he is aware of the sent payment - we are thanking you for choosing
our third party service for your transactions - which will be revealed to
the shipper along with all the transaction details after the delivery and
your clearance. Consider this security measure if you haven't bought from
the seller before and you believe that this is in your best interest.
[IMAGE] Address Information: Ship To:
********

Shipper (Apartment Owner) :
First name

Alexandra

Last name

Bellarosa

Address

142 Holborn Lane

City/State

London

PostalCode

W3 6PG

Country

United Kingdom



[IMAGE] Shipment Information:
Service

ImmoExpress Rentals

Delivered By

Royal ImmoExpress LTD

Duration 2 days
Description of goods

Apartment Keys and rental contract verified signed by the Sender. All
the papers are double checked.

Declared Value

CHF 3000.00

Western Union Fees Refundable at receipt time
Website: http://www.immoscout24.ch
ImmoScout24 - Immobilien suchen, finden, inserieren (Wohnen, Gewerbe, Ferien, Miete, Kauf). In Zuerich, Basel, Bern, Luzern und in der gesamten Schweiz
[IMAGE]NOTE: *You will receive the Tracking Number after the payment is
confirmed to us.
*The amount including the transfer fees, will be 100 %
refunded in case the receiver refuse to rent
the apartment after he will visit it. [IMAGE] Insured
Value Amount: 3000.00 CHF (3 months of rent)
[IMAGE] Payment information :Locate the nearest WesternUnion Office :
(available here)
Make the payment using money transfer to our Agent name listed below and
send the total amount of 3000.00 CHF

First name

Christian Bruno

Last name

Missud

Address

274 Grinstead Road

City/State

SE8 5BJ

PostalCode

London

Country

United Kingdom


Once you sent payment, you have to email us the following information:
- 10 digit #MTCN number :
- Sender full name and address :
- Receiver full name :
- The total amount you have sent (in GBP) : [IMAGE]

Warning ! The payment must be made only using Western Union. We will not
confirm any payments made online.
Intellectual and other property rights to the information contained in
this site are hold by Royal ImmoExpress LTD B.V. with all rights reserved
© 2005 -2009

7TH EMAIL:
Hello,
Today I have made all the arrangements for the delivery with the agency ImmoExpress. Did you receive the payment invoice in your e-mail? It is everything in order?
I wait news from you !
Bye

*******************************************************************************************
So I went to the Police here in Basel and informed them of the scam. Obviously it is impossible to know if these people are really working from London or somewhere else.

1. I first started to suspect due to the English grammar. Strange from someone who's native... But hey, no one is perfect and has a high level of education (even if you're a project manager);
2. The other strange thing was that she asked me for a pre-payment (3000CHF) in exchange of the keys of the apartment - at this point we were already far down the road (she has many infos on me, occupation, age, address, contact number, picture...).
3. I went there to see the apartment which does NOT exist. The building is there, but no apartment on the 1st floor... So I send her an email asking details on the ImmoExpress company (address, website, etc...). I think that a company that takes care of rentals all over Europe should have a website, right? But at this point I just wanted to see how far this would go... "She" got so pissed off (see email #5) but she went through with the payment thing.
4. So, I've received the email about paying CHF3000 to see the flat from the ghost company. I've searched again on the Internet, and that's when I found this website. As I said earlier, I've informed the Police and the Real Estate Agency (Immoscout24.ch). But now I wonder if this Real Estate company are not in the scam process since thorpedo575 found the ad on "immobilienscout24.de"....

Welcome to Scamwarners espn. Thank you for posting this information.

It will alert and save others from being scammed. Well done

Note this Portuguese language site click here

Translation;

I entered the website (filtered out according to my requirements) and voila! the miracle happened. had found the perfect nest: 77m2, 3 rooms, furnished with tasteful, near the university and overlooking the Rhine. was not necessary anymore. price? the price was a dream: chf999.

1. prime suspect - a) no one asks for an income chf999 b) at that location, 77m2 area and recently renovated, it was an apartment worth chf3000.

I filled out the application form contact and prayed. very, very much.
on Sunday afternoon, and after consulting every 5 minutes my email, I get the long-awaited response. a long email explaining to me that the person does not reside in basel, parents were divorced, she lives in London with his mother and his father died and she inherited the apartment. everything will be handled by a company called immoexpress and that is rent / leases throughout Europe.

2. second suspect - a) e-mail written in English contain many grammatical errors, b) the British usually are not as expansive - do not have details of private life to anyone.
I immediately replied, confirming my interest and giving me a bit more formally (name, age, occupation, etc.)..
Monday, new email reacquainted me the details of the "transaction", asking for a picture and ask if they can pay 3 months in advance (without security). the payment would be made directly to her bank account.

3. third suspect - a) if he wanted at least 2 months' rent, why the hell did not ask for a deposit that would have been the standard procedure - at least here - and the month's rent?
ok, I continued to "believe" in history and discuss it with my mana p. the story began to have too many flaws. grammatical errors in the e-mail continued. hum.

then came the confirmation that it was all a scheme of extortion:

Hello,
it is ok for me. now i will need to inform you the steps about how this service works and how we can make it happen:
1) to start this transaction i will need to know your shipping information (full name and address) to proceed with this deal.
2) i will go to agency office, i leave them the keys and i make all the arrangements to deliver the keys at your home address.
3) the agency will send you in your e-mail an official delivery notification to let you know they have the keys and the papers in their custody.
4) at this point you will have to deposit the prepayment for my apartment to the immoexpress agent assigned to handle our transaction.
* Immoexpress is asking this from you because this is the policy of a real estate agency in abroad, they must have a warranty from the potential tenant before starting the delivery, they will only hold the money until you visit the apartment.
5) after the payment will be made, you have to email the agency with the payment details.
6) they will verify the payment and if everything is ok, the immoexpress agent will bring you the keys at your address (in maximum 2 days) and you visit the apartment with him.
- If you like the apartment and you agree to rent it, you sign all the papers with the agent and the transaction is finished.
- If you do not accept to rent my apartment, the immoexpress agent will give your money back in the same day, you will not lose anything. as i said, i will pay the immoexpress service.

please read carefully this e-mail and send me your shipping details only if you agree to these therms!
thank you,
Alexaandra Bellarosa

here, all the suspicions were confirmed and did what I should have done at the beginning: I see the "flat". yesterday lunchtime and accompanied my friend to drive me to untere Rheingasse, 13. the building is. there. and overlooks the Rhine. but the apartment was supposed to be in 1. floor. and in paragraph 13, there is a restaurant on the ground floor, offices on 1st and 2nd floor and 3rd floor is an apartment - as I said an employee of the restaurant, it costs chf4000/mês.
I returned to college with all the suspicions confirmed. I did another google search on "real estate scam" and found the famous "scam": flat attractive, the foreign owner can not personally handle the lease, the fictitious company that deals with the delivery of the keys against a deposit etc..

gave up the novel:

Hi alexandra,
thanks for choosing me as your potential tenant. i just have some random questions:
1. how much is this prepayment deposit?
2. can you send me the details of the immoexpress agency (website, contacts ...)?
you can understand that i am also in a delicate position, which is i do not want to send money to a company i do not know anything about, and never hear back from them. the same way you have to be cautious with who you choose, i have to be it too with the procedure of paying / getting the keys.

in the early hours of yesterday I get this:

Hi e.,
The agency has office in the united kingdom (mare street, e8 1hr london, united kingdom) but they handle rentals all over europe, they have many years of experience in this line of work and they never had a bad deal. it is very simple, they send an agent to show the apartment to the potential tenant.
let me make two things very clear:
1) by paying you are not committing to anything, you are just respecting the policy of an abroad rental company. the money that you pay are 100% refundable (including transfer fees) at visitation time. the agent will have the money with him and he will give them to you if you do not like the apartment.
2) you are not paying to see the apartment, the money that you pay represent the rent for my apartment with utilities included.
i also have a question for you: do you think that i would go through all this trouble if the apartment was not like in the pictures?! i would send an agent and pay 365 euro for the service if the apartment was not in a good condition?! i am not an absurd woman, i just try to rent my apartment, what can be bad in this?!?
also you must understand that the rental process abroad is not like the rental process in your country. there they would send the agent a few km to show you the apartment, when in my case they sent the agent a very long distance. this is why the rental comany requests the down payment in advance ...
tomorrow morning i will go to the agency office and i will make all the arrangements for the delivery. as soon as i will finish, they will send you an email in your official invoice payment, here you will find all the shipping informations and all the payment instructions you need to start this transaction.
please follow them and everything will be ok!
thank you, keep in touch!
alexandra

tried the street (mare street, e8 london 1hr) in google map, and there. I tried the yellow pages company in the uk (yell.com) and nothing. no company "immoexpress" listed. strange, strange, if we think that this is a company dealing with lace all over europe.
4. suspicion (which is not suspected, but simple observation) - is really the "lady" lives in London and indeed the "company" is based in London, why pay for services in euros?

Today I received this from the "royal immoexpress ltd":

Welcome to royal immoexpress agency ltd>> our company is the european market leader in rentals through mail services.

02/09/2009
third party service reduces risks associated with Internet transactions by acting as a licensed neutral third party for online transactions. the seller delivers the package to one of nearest royal immoexpress ltd agents for the evaluation of contents. the package will the company remain in custody until the receiver will send the payment through a money order service. after verifying the funds, royal immoexpress ltd is ready to ship the parcel to the desired address.
note: we order to avoid the earlier pick up of the funds by the shipper based on fact
that he is aware of the payment sent - we are thanking you for choosing our third party service for your transactions - which will be revealed to the shipper along with all the transaction details after the delivery and your clearance. Consider this security measure if you have not bought from the seller before and you believe that this is in your best interest.
ship to: [...]
shipper (apartment owner):
first name: alexandra
last name: TFA
Address: 142 lane holborn
city / state: london
postalcode: W3 6PG
country: united kingdom
shipment information:
service: immoexpress rentals
delivered by: royal immoexpress ltd
duration: 2 days
description of goods: apartment keys and verified rental contract signed by the sender. all the papers are double checked.
declared value: 3000.00 chf

western union fees refundable at receipt time.
website: http://www.immoscout24.ch
note: * You will receive the tracking number after the payment is confirmed to us.
* the amount including the transfer fees, will be 100% refunded in case the receiver refuse to rent the apartment after he will visit it. insured
value amount: 3000.00chf (3 months of rent)
payment information: locate the nearest western union office: (available here)
make the payment using money transfer to our agent name listed below and send the total amount of 3000.00chf

first name: Christian Bruno
last name: Missud
address: 274 grinstead road
city / state: london
postalcode: SE8 5BJ
country: united kingdom

once you sent payment, you have to email us the following information:
- 10 digit MTCN number #:
- Sender full name and address:
- Receiver full name:
- The total amount you have sent (in GBP):

warning! the payment must be made only using western union. we will not confirm any payments made online.
and other intellectual property rights to the information contained in this site are hold by royal immoexpress ltd BV with all rights reserved © 2005 -2009

hello,

I had the same experience as everybody else going through the same exchange of emails . There is no need to explain more but now my question is what are the risk as this scammer has personal details on us? What can/shall we do now?

Hi duchesse,

I'm glad you realized this was a scam. If the only information that the scammer has is your name, email, phone number and address, then you shouldn't be overly concerned or worried. They will eventually (and unfortunately) move on to someone else. My best advice would be to just ignore any emails or calls, just delete emails and don't answer calls from numbers you don't recognize.

If the scammers have any credit card or banking info then you should contact your CC company and bank immediately and let them know. You could also put a fraud alert on your credit file. You can do a google search on "Fraud Alert" and you will find a number of resources. www.experian.com www.equifax.com www.transunion.com

Experian
NCAC
PO Box 9556
Allen TX 75013

Equifax Information Services
P O BOX 740256
Atlanta, GA 30374

TransUnion
Customer Disclosure Center
Trans Union Consumer Relations
PO Box 2000
Chester, PA 19022-2000

Experian
Office in TX: 1-888-397-3742
Business: 888-211-0728

Equifax Information Services
Business Line (also has option for Personal): 888-202-4025
Office in GA: 1-800-685-1111
Dispute Fax #: 888-826-0573
Business: 802-304-0364
General: 800-797-6801

TransUnion
Office in PA: 1-800-888-4213
888-259-6845 (6am-12 pacific time)
800-916-8800 (consumer relations)

Putting a fraud alert on your credit file is free of charge if you do it yourself, and it is not a bad idea to do it regardless of whether or not you are concerned about identity theft.

Me llamo Kesia Wilkinson, tengo 37 años y yo trabajo como un ingeniero civil en Londres / Reino Unido.
Recibí su email de interés para la renta de mi apartamento en Calle de Rafael Alcover listó en 250 EURO en el Internet. Quiero alquilar este apartamento porque yo lo heredé de mi padre en 2007 y yo nunca viví allí porque mi madre y mi padre fueron divorciados y fui levantado por mi madre a Londres. Traté de vender el apartamento pero yo no podría obtener un precio justo para él (a causa de la crisis financiera) tan decidí juntos con mi madre para alquilarlo a algunas personas agradables.
El apartamento es exactamente como usted lo ve en las imágenes, completamente amueblado, pero tengo la opción de enviar todos mis muebles en el almacenamiento si usted quiere traer su propio (no costes adicionales).
En este momento yo estoy en Londres y en yo no puedo entrar España a causa de mi trabajo, tenemos problemas grandes con la infiltración de agua en la base del edificio grande que construimos aqui en Londres. Usted no necesita para preocupar, he hecho todos los arreglos para alquilar el apartamento de aquí después de que decida a quien, una agencia cuidará del negocio para mí.

En final, yo me disculpo para mi español malo, yo apreciaré una respuesta en inglés si esto es posible ..

Gracias por su interés y yo esperaré su correo electrónico !

Todo el mejor de Londres,
Kesia Wilkinson

P.S. Espero que usted todavía sea interesado en alquilar mi apartamento, lo siento para mi respuesta tarde ..

( This is the Spanish version of the above for rental of apartments in Spain. However they are wanting correspondence in English prefered).

Having queried the above requirements we received the following reply


e Agency has the office in United Kingdom (Mare Street, London SE81HR, United Kingdom) but they handle rentals all over Europe, they have many years of experience in this line of work and they never had a bad deal. It is very simple ,they send an agent to show the apartment to the potential tenant.
Let me make two things very clear:
1) by paying you are not commiting to anything, you are just respecting a policy of an abroad rental company. The money that you pay are 100% refundable (including transfer fees) at visitation time. The agent will have the money with him and he will give them to you if you don't like the apartment.
2) you are not paying to see the apartment, the money that you pay represent the rent for my apartment with utilities included.
I also have a question for you : Do you think that I would go through all this trouble if the apartment was not like in the pictures ?! Would I send an agent and pay 365 Euro for a service if the apartment was not in a good condition ?! I am not an absurd woman, I just try to rent my apartment, what can be bad in this?!!?
Also you must understand that the abroad rental process is not like the rental process in your country. There they would send the agent a few km to show you the apartment, when in my case they sent the agent a very long distance. This is why the rental comany requests the down payment in advance...

In these conditions and only if you agree to these terms, please give me an answer


As you see this is following a familiar pattern. Although photo and e-mail address has been given, hopefully nothing bad will come of this, and no further info will be sent

IS THERE NOT SOMETHING WE CAN DO ABOUT THIS SORT OF THING?

Hi chaletmaids and welcome to Scamwarners

You dont have too much to worry about so long as you didn't give your banking details, while it isn't ideal that you have given your details to the scammers it certaibly isn't the end of teh world.

Just keep an eye out for scams that may now include your personal details, if you are unsure, please come back and ask.

As for what we can do to stop scams, unfortunately the best we can do is educate the public about the various scams that are about which will help people to spot the scams sooner.

Spreading the word is something we can all do, talk to your family and friends about what has happened and let them know about staying safe on line, by doing that, you never know who you will prevent from being scammed.