apartment scam Utrecht

Welcome to ScamWarners someone-gent and thank you for posting this information. It is sad that people like this are on the internet and it makes doing business more difficult.

I ALMOST GOT DUPED.. till i read your email

i was looking for an apartment in kuala lumpur,malaysia when i came across a big and spacious apartment.. it was beyond believe when i saw the rental price.. i would have made my payment in the next few days until i decided to google TNT air global express..and i almost missed your scam article.. THANK YOU

The apartment on Kouter 76, Gent is again 'available'. It was posted on immoweb. It had great photos but a very low price. I got an answer, but it was so strong, so i looked it up. I found this site, en the same photos i got from the person. It was also the same text of one of the previous messages above. The ad on immoweb was gone when i got the email. This was the email i got:

Jonathan Hailey [email protected]

Hi,

My name is Jonathan Hailey and I received an email of interest in my apartment located in Kouter 76, 9000 Gent, with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and 1 living room. I purchased this nice apartment during a business trip to Belgium with the intention of renovating it to a luxury state, then reselling it, but due to the market blockage and the international crisis, it is impossible for me to sell it right now, so I've decided to rent it. I am the only owner of the apartment, it is paid in full and it has no legal problems.
I wish to rent my apartment to some nice and responsible people and in order to do that I have to know a some details about you, like how many persons are you planning to live in the apartment, for how long, if you have a steady income, etc. You should also know that I appreciate sincerity very much.
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 430 euro for the entire apartment including: electricity, Internet, cable tv.....heating will be pay by you depend of consumption. You can rent the flat for any period of time (open end contract) but not less than 5 months.
About myself, I am 37 years and as I told you I am a researcher in 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 issue is that I am already in United Kingdom but I hope that together we are going to find a solution.

I appreciate your interest in my property and I am looking forward to a future collaboration and friendship.

Best regards,

Jonathan

Hello!

Same scam is circulating I Gotenburg, Sweden. But this time it is a Marlene Dusper how is letting an apartment at Kungsgatan 19. And instead of the above payment procedure he/she is using Re/MAX.
The answer to my questions were quite “mainstream” and did not really answer my questions at all. This caused me to raise my eyes..
Below are some examples of the email I received:

Hello,

First of all I'm sorry to write you in English but I don't speak Swedish.I just read your e-mail regarding my apartment located in : 19 Kungsgatan, 41119 Gothenburg, Västra Götaland County, Sweden.
The apartment is still available , with 1 rooms : 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and 1 living room (50m2 ). The apartment is in the best conditions, furnished and have all the equipment that you will need including TV and washing machine. I can rent you the apt. for unlimited time. I really want to find a good and responsible tenant and I was hoping if you can send me some personal information's about yourself.
The rent price is 5200 SEK p/m including all utilities for as long as you need and the deposit is also 5200 SEK. The deposit will be returned as soon as you will decide to leave from the apartment (you will have to give me at least 30 days notice). The pets and dogs are ok to me. I bought this apartment for my daughter during her studies in Sweden , but now she's back home in United Kingdom permanently, so I'm renting the place for unlimited time and I left the keys and contract of the apartment, already signed by me, at a company called RE/MAX .
If you want to find more about how this transaction can work please get back to me anytime and I will send you more information step by step.
Here are some pictures of my apt,please click of the link:

http://s1292.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... s/library/

Thank you for your interest and awaiting your reply,


Marlene Dusper
[email protected]
Hello,

I want to inform you that RE/MAX will hold the money until you will confirm to them that you like the apt and keep the keys. If you don't like it, you only have to return the keys to them after they will refund the money to you and they will deliver the keys back to me on my expense.
I will need to inform you the steps about how this service works and how we can make it happen. You will only have to deposit to RE/MAX Global Air Express the first month of rent + security deposit - so they can proceed with the shipping, and you can receive the keys and the contract.
Like I said, I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the Keys and the contract signed by me right away. I will explain to you how this will work:
1 - To start this transaction i will need to know your full shipping information, full name, full shipping address and phone number to proceed with this deal .
2 - I leave the Keys and the contract in RE/MAX possession.
3 - RE/MAX will check the envelope to see if everything is OK with it and also the legal papers that will come along with the Keys.
4 - RE/MAX will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the Keys and the papers in their custody, in which you will be told that they have the Keys and that they checked it.
You must send the money to a RE/MAX Agent from United Kingdom.
RE/MAX will hold and insure your money until you inspect the apartment (until you decide if you want to keep it or not).
That is how their buyer protection policy works. As far as my concerns, I will be glad to know that RE/MAX has the possession of the money during the delivery period. That is my insurance.

Many thanks in advance !
Hello,

I will explain: I will leave the keys + contract in the company RE/MAX custody. The company will email you and inform you that they have the keys + contract and give you further information about how and to whom you should make the payment.
RE/MAX will hold and insure your money until you inspect the apartment (until you decide if you want to keep it or not).
Your money are a gurantee for the 2 days, while you will visit the apartment and will decide if it`s like I`ve told you. After you will decide and will sign the rental contract, one of it will be send to me by RE/MAX, and one will stay to you.
After the contract will be legally signed, RE/MAX will send me the transfer dates, so I can receive the money. If the apartment isn`t like you want, the money will be return to you, the money will be in RE/MAX custody, and the transaction will be available for 2 days.
It is specified that you can refuse the apartment if it hasn`t all utilities from description.
The company requires me to make the same deposit as you, for safety reasons. RE/MAX company then you will attach my proof of payment and my ID . This is the guarantee for you that you will not lose any money .
Not to worry, there will be no bad surprises, you will have no problems with the flat, I assure you , is exactly like in the pictures.

Mi Cousin was trying to rent an apt here in Chile, and stumbled upon the same scam method.
The supposed owner claimed to be in Sweden. Luckily she checked with TNT and avoided beeing robbed!!!
Teh point of the post is to warn Latin American users....this is happening here also!!

My friend also came over an AD for this amazing apartment but she did not understand that it was scam so she actually transferred the money. Is there any way that she can get the money back? or is there no point of trying.



his email is [email protected]

Welcome to ScamWarners aned. I am sorry to hear about your friend. To answer your question, it depends on how the money was sent. It depends on if the scammer has picked up the money already. Your friend needs to contact the company they sent the money through as quickly as possible, tell them the situation and see what their policy and procedure is.

Same scam here. A beautiful e cheap apartment in Coupure 940, Gent. I almost fell for it but gladly I found this forums. The e-mails were exactly the same. The person responds as Carol Skelton (Carol Skelton <[email protected]>) See below:

Hi,

Thank you for your interest. As you can see I have available the apartment located in Coupure 940, 9000 Gent, with 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 kitchen and 1 bathroom. I purchased this nice apartment during a business trip to Belgium with the intention of renovating it to a luxury state, then reselling it, but due to the market blockage and the international crisis, it is impossible for me to sell it right now, so I've decided to rent it. I am the only owner of the apartment, it is paid in full and it has no legal problems.
I wish to rent my apartment to some nice and responsible people and in order to do that I have to know a some details about you, like how many persons are you planning to live in the apartment, for how long, if you have a steady income, etc. You should also know that I appreciate sincerity very much.
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 450 euro for the entire apartment including: (cold/hot water, electricity, wireless Internet, digital TV, dishwasher, microwave, refrigerator, washing machine). You can rent the flat for any period of time (open end contract) but not less than 5 months.
About myself, I am 35 years and I am a researcher in 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 issue is that I am already in United Kingdom but I hope that together we are going to find a solution.

I appreciate your interest in my property and I am looking forward to a future collaboration and friendship.

Best regards,

Hello Pedro,

Thank you for your reply but the matter is that I'm in London already. Like I have inform you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 450 euro, with no extra taxes to pay. The money, I want to revive it monthly to my bank account, so I hope it will be no problem for you to wire the money to my bank account. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys and the contract to check it, and see if you like it.
Obviously we need a way to complete this deal, that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after. In order of that I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 3 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a company called TNT which is similar to FedEx, DHL or UPS, which will handle both payment and delivery of the Keys.
I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the rent of the apt only after you will receive the keys of it and through this way you will see it and decide if you will stay in the apt or not before I receive my payment.Please click on the link bellow to the TNT website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company where the procedure is explained: http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/h ... ivery.html

Let me know if you are interested please because I really need to take care of this matter by the end of this week or the beginning of the next one.

...

Dear Pedro,


I just spoke with TNT and they told me that you must to make the payment through Western Union money transfer because they can't receive the money from Brazil. Did you received details from TNT ?



Best Regards,

After this message I started looking for scams and found this forums. Obviously I terminated contact with such person immediately.

Also, the AD is back on Immoweb: http://www.immoweb.be/en/Rent.Estate.cf ... ry&xpage=1

Looks like he sent you a link to the real TNT, but the real TNT wouldn't insist on being paid by Western Union. Did you get any payment details from the scammer's pretend TNT?

Yes, here is the information that was given to me to make the payment:

TNT Representative Account Name : TNT Express
Beneficiary Bank Name : Barclays Bank
Beneficiary Bank IBAN : GB06 BARC 2057 0623 5052 19
Beneficiary Bank Account Number : 23505219 Sort Code: 20-57-06
Beneficiary Bank Swift Code : BARCGB22
Beneficiary Bank Address : 664 Hallingbury Court
Beneficiary Bank City : Forest Road, London
Beneficiary Bank Zip Code : E17 3EE
Beneficiary Bank Country : United Kingdom

"TNT Express" sent me this info using the e-mail TNT Express <[email protected]>

I hope this helps preventing people from falling for these criminals.

Account Reported - Michelle

tnt-express-tnt.com is fake but the website has no content. We'll need email headers to kill it. Please post an email from the domain, with complete headers. If you sent an email to that domain, and got a response, post that too with full headers (which will be short as there are no Received headers).

From: TNT Express <[email protected]>
Subject: Transaction Started #4053781
Date: February 23, 2013 12:51:06 PM Central European Time
To: Pedro <****>

Dear Pedro,


Because we can not receive the money from Brazil through Bank Account we advice you to make the payment through Western Union !


This is the informations that you need to do the transfer:


TNT Agent Name : Ryan Roberts
Address : 664 Hallingbury Court
City/State : Forest Road, London
Postal Code : E17 3EE
Country : United Kingdom

Pay for the transfer with cash at a local WesternUnion agent.
Once you sent payment, please email us the following information`s:

* 10 digit, MTCN number
* Sender's, full name and address
* Receiver's full name
* The total amount you've sent

Thank you for being part of the TNT community

There it is.

Please post complete headers and body of the email you sent them before this one, and complete headers of the email they sent you. We need both to prove that the domain is receiving email and to check whether the scammer is sending email through the domain's mailserver.

Hi,

This summer I was searching for a apartment in Bruges close to work.
I found next advertisement: http://www.2dehands.be/immo/huurwoningen-belgië/brugge/two-bedrooms-apartment-in-bruges-194988181.html

I looked very nice. Nice pictures.. pictures from rentingbooks? And the price was cheap for what was offered.
So I was interested and I asked for more information about the apartment and received a mail from:
[email protected] / balcarcel maria:

Hello,
Can you speak english ?
Hans Memlinglaan, Brugge, Vlaams Gewest 8200, Belgium
The apartment is exactly like in the pictures, fully furnished, fully equipped.
The monthly rent is € 450 including utilities (water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking).
For how long you want to rent?

This was rare to receive an english answer but okay, the advertisement was also written in english and so on... I continued and gave some information of myself (luckily not much) and asked for more information about the apartment ect and received next mail:
Hello,
I'm looking for someone to live in my apartment Because my company has won an auction for a big building project in Scotland, UK. I am a project manager in civil engineering, I will be here for long time (over 4 years). I bought this apartment, When I Worked in Belgium Because I had a 4 year contract there. I am the only owner of the apartment. You can move into the apartment on the same day you receive the keys. I'm already in the Scotland ,UK, I thought of a solution, so you get the keys and visit the apartment to make an impression. I appreciate your interest in my apartment, and I look forward to our future collaboration and friendship. Thank you

This was a strange story.. So I googled her name and emailadress and found next site:
http://danielaragonmay.weebly.com

And this proved it was a scam!! Lucky me.
Hopefully nobody will fall in this things...

The reason she wrote in English is that she's not in the Belgian Congo. She is obviously somewhere in Africa, from the way she writes.