Trent Roster / Kraig Dawson / Mark Koeman

I wrote with one man from UK, he allegedly bought 2 rooms apartment for his daughter, she was study in Amsterdam, now she is permanently in the UK. He wanted to rent this apartment, and as a third party, he wanted to cooperate with TNT agency . This is from our mail:

The apartment is ready , you just need to receive the keys and the contract to check it, and see if you can accept it. Of course we will need some way to go through this agreement, to allow us ensure that we get what we are expecting. For in it, I have discovered how we could finish the deal securely and quickly, TNT Rentals, offers this solution and will handle both payment and delivery of the keys.In this way, you may see it and decide if you want to live in the apartment or not, before I receive any payment. Please visit their website
( http://www.tnt.com/express/en_gb/site/h ... ivery.html ).

Trent Roster / Kraig Dawson / Mark Koeman - this is only one person, he also can use a lot of nick name...

He want from start knows something about you and than personal information. Maybe he will be also sharing some picture of apartment and also some picture his happy family!

Step by step, what he wants from you - money, a this is his plan:

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 step by step how this will work:
1 - To start this transaction i will need to know your full shipping information, full name, full shipping address to proceed with this deal .
2 - I go to the TNT Office and leave the Keys and the contract in your name as the intended receiver.
3 - TNT 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 - TNT 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.
5 - At this point you will have to make a money transfer deposit on the TNT agent name assigned with this transaction for the amount we agreed.
6 - After you make the deposit you will have to send the infos about the money deposit to TNT (Reference Number, sender's name and address)
7 - TNT will verify the payment information and if everything is in order they will deliver the Keys and the contract to you .
8 - After you receive the package, You will go and check the apt and in 2 days you must contact them and tell them if you keep the apt or not, if everything is in order you will instruct TNT to release the money to me.

But when you sent money, you will never see any apartment or any money ever! In my occasion I was very careful and I uncovered him before sending some money, so I hope that this message will be also helpful for other people!

Good luck and be careful!!!

Hello myname,
I am happy that you discovered the scam before you lost money to this thief. Please post the email address the scammer used as this information is a good search key for others who may be searching for information on this scam.
If you have any other questions on this scam please ask.

Hello myname,
I am happy that you discovered the scam before you lost money to this thief. Please post the email address the scammer used as this information is a good search key for others who may be searching for information on this scam.
If you have any other questions on this scam please ask.

Hi, the email is [email protected].

And what about company called DepositGuard? Now, somebody is offering this resolution for transaction of money... Thanks.

DepositGuard do not offer an escrow service. It is a service used in order to protect rental deposits.
If you receive an invoice asking to pay their agent via money transfer, then it will be sent from a fake email address.

Real landlords do not ask for up front payments in order to view a property.

You can forward the email to me at the address in my signature line below and I will investigate further if you wish.

Mike Wilson,

Recently I have been involved in what I think that is a scam via DepositGuard.

First I received an email giving me an amazing description of an apartment with a low price in the rent, but with really good conditions. Basically too good to be true.

Then we start sending emails to each other, because I obviously say that I am interested, when I get to the point where they write me this:

"The apartment is ready for you, you will only have to receive the keys and the contract to check it and see if you like it. In order of that, I've found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast so you will receive the keys in less than 3 days. No one could help me show the apartment because I don't know the neighbours very well..
The solution I've chosen is provided by a company called DepositGuard; they handle rentals for people who are unable to solve them alone, which are abroad etc., so they will take care both the delivery and payment issues. I will support all the shipping taxes for the package.
Regarding the monthly payments I want to receive them in my bank account from Berlin so I hope it will be no problem for you.
I would like to know more details about you...this just to know us better, it is very important for me to know who will live in my apartment because I want a good person.
I think you can understand me.. and finally I request for a 2 months deposit (1 month warranty+1 month of rent)."

After that, I have received an invoice from <[email protected]> telling me to deposit an amount in an UK account before 48 hours.

The website is http://www.depositguard.co.uk/

I will report it today to the police here in Denmark.

Hope to hear your comments.

Welcome to Scamwarners Borja,
Your are correct, this is a scam. Any landlord that offers to send you the keys and a contract without first meeting you face to face is a scam.

The email address [email protected] is a free email account used by the scammer and is not associated with deposit guard.

Please post a sample email from the first contact along will all email addresses and telephone numbers used in this scam. This information will help others who may be looking for information on this scam.

If you have any additional questions about this scam please ask.

Hello everyone,

I just discover that I have been scammed. I am a French student looking for a place in Barcelona to do an internship.
I did a few research when my contact told me about the deposit etc but I didn't find you unfortunately.

Just to inform that my contact email address is : [email protected]

Hi all!

I just got hit by the same scammer. This time by the name of Chrstine Roth.

Being kinda paranoid about all this, I asked a lot of questions, but I was not able to find any information about the scammer, so I started believing in this. That this was not a scam.

This is my story:

After i got the email from DepositGuard Escrow about wanting money, i noticed the email it came from was [email protected] which was weird.

So i punched the email into google. And here i am. The first result from a google search led me to THIS forum and THIS thread.

I recognize the email thats been sent to Borja. Mine is almost completely the same. She introduces herself as a well educated, well spoken, english woman, Married with 2 children. Everything seems fine until she wants money sent to the "escrow" service.

I start asking questions, and I want documentation about the authenticity of all this. So i convince "her" to send me proof that she owns the place.

She does, actually. She sends me screenshots of bills for internet and electricity and all that. With the address on there as well.

And heres the kicker. She sent me a picture of her passport!! Possibly a fake one. I can't tell...

The pictures she sent me are probably fakes. But i have to hand it to the scammer. This is really well made. All of this. Only way i found out it was a scam, was googling the mail address from depositguard. I haven't been able to find any signs of scam in any other email.

That, and the apartment price is too good to be true.

This is one of the emails i got from the scammer:
The apartment is ready for you, you will only have to receive the keys and the contract to check it and see if you like it. In order of that, I've found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast so you will receive the keys in less than 3 days. No one could help me show the apartment because I don't know the neighbours very well..
The solution I've chosen is provided by a company called DepositGuard Escrow; they handle rentals for people who are unable to solve them alone, which are abroad etc., so they will take care both the delivery and payment issues. I will support all the shipping taxes for the package.
Regarding the monthly payments I want to receive them in my bank account from London so I hope it will be no problem for you.
I would like to know more details about you...this just to know us better, it is very important for me to know who will live in my apartment because I want a good person.
I think you can understand me.. and finally I request for a 2 months deposit (1 month warranty+1 month of rent).

As you can see, it's very similar to the one Borja received.

Another thing that worried me, was that every time i ask for a phone meeting i get ignored. Then i ask her why she ignores the fact that i want to contact her by phone. She tells me, it's because deposit guard has to take care of everything. So what shes saying is, depositguard decided that we can't even talk on the phone?? That's odd...

In conclusion... This is a scam. I'm on the last step of transferring money. Luckily i made it this far, without spending a dime. She has my address though. Which shouldn't be a problem. No credit card information, no account numbers or anything of the sort has been given to the scammer as of yet. Nor will there ever be.

I too am from Denmark, like Borja. I will report the scammer to the police, and provide the pictures that i received from her.

The pictures can be viewed here for future reference:
http://imgur.com/TBS8fSP,WpNoMhu,YB41Db ... ,mxbOrz8#0 - Invoice
http://imgur.com/TBS8fSP,WpNoMhu,YB41Db ... ,mxbOrz8#1 - Invoice
http://imgur.com/TBS8fSP,WpNoMhu,YB41Db ... ,mxbOrz8#2 - Invoice
http://imgur.com/TBS8fSP,WpNoMhu,YB41Db ... ,mxbOrz8#3 - Passport

Thank god i found this forum in time! If you want, I can post the entire email conversation I've had with her. I'll keep her around, and not call her on the scam yet... Have to report this first.

I wonder who's passport shes used.

Hi,
Sometimes I think this forum is telling some lies and I do not understand why.
I have used the company DepositGuard and I was very satisfied with this company.

I rent my apartment 3 times with this company.

Since you have published these lies right on your forum my clients do not want to use this company.

I think sometimes your purpose is to destroy some business and this Company, and promote only particular company.

[AlanJones]

Hi,
Sometimes I think this forum is telling some lies and I do not understand why.
I have used the company DepositGuard and I was very satisfied with this company.

I rent my apartment 3 times with this company.

Since you have published these lies right on your forum my clients do not want to use this company.

I think sometimes your purpose is to destroy some business and this Company, and promote only particular company.

You are either confused about the service that you have used or you are a very dumb scammer who is upset that he has lost victims.

I'm going to go for the latter and have reported your post.

Glad I came across this posting. I did not get scammed but had correspondence with several scammers during my last 2 weeks of getting an apartment in Amsterdam. One actually pulled a "Born again Christian" angle. My experience: if the deal seems really good (compared to all the apartments/house for rent), it is likely a scam. I responded to 5 different adds that were clearly scams. The all had similar patterns in email correspondence: bad english, excessive and unsolicited discussion provided by the "vendor" about their personal life/situation (family, reason for needed to rent etc), and requests for my personal information that was clearly not relevant (at the early stages of apartment renting). Most went away as soon as I insisted I needed to see the apartment before sending money. One persisted and is clearly the piece of shit described above in this form

Found an apartment to rent Barcelona. Sounded great and great price. Received email from
[email protected]
replied and then received this email:
Thanks for everything you've told me about yourself!
The apartment is located in Ronda del General Mitre 131, Barcelona.
I will inform you about how this service works. As I said before, you will need to deposit into DepositGuard Escrow bank account the money for 2 months (1 month warranty+1 month of rent= € 1,000), so they can proceed with the shipping and you will receive the keys and the contract.
I will explain you step by step how DepositGuard Escrow (www.depositguardescrow.com) service works:
- To start the transaction I will need your shipping details(phone number,name,address etc.) so I can send to the DepositGuard Escrow office and make all the legal arrangements .
- DepositGuard Escrow will check the envelope and if everything is in order they will send you a payment invoice to let you know they have the package in their custody.
- After you will receive the payment invoice, you will need to make the money transfer in their bank account.
- After the transfer is checked, you will receive the package in 2-3 days at your address. Then,you will go together with the their agent to see the apartment and you will have a period of 24 hours to decide if you keep it or not.
If you don't like the apartment by any plausible reasons, the agent will give you the money back or send it to your account, and you will send them the package back to return me on my expense.
All this time the company will keep the money in holding, I will receive it only after the contract is signed!
If you agree then, you need to send me your full name and address so I will be able to make all the arrangements with the DepositGuard Escrow company.

Many thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Francisc

I went on the Deposit Guard website and they DO NO OFFER A KEY SERVICE OR ANY OTHER AGENT SERVICES.
This is a SCAM. PLEASE AVOID

Please beware of someone that calls him/her self Zoe Gough. this person was advertising an appartment in amsterdam and claimed to be living in London. Also believe that Deposit Guard Escrow is a scam.

SEE DETAILS BELOW.

"Thanks! I don't speak good Dutch.
In this email I send you a copy of my passport and a bill to confirm the address of the apartment.
Your proposal to speak by phone sounds fair, it's just that I have an agreement with DepositGuard Escrow and they should take care of the whole process. The agent explained me that I'm not allowed to forward personal data until we will not sign the contract. That it's for the safety and good-work of the deal.

I will inform you about how this service works. As I said before, you will need to deposit into DepositGuard Escrow bank account the money for 2 months (1 month warranty+1 month of rent= € 1,400), so they can proceed with the shipping and you will receive the keys and the contract.
I will explain you step by step how DepositGuard Escrow (www.depositguardescrow.com) service works:
- To start the transaction I will need your shipping details(phone number,name,address etc.) so I can send to the DepositGuard Escrow office and make all the legal arrangements .
- DepositGuard Escrow will check the envelope and if everything is in order they will send you a payment invoice to let you know they have the package in their custody.
- After you will receive the payment invoice, you will need to make the money transfer in their bank account.
- After the transfer is checked, you will receive the package in 2-3 days at your address. Then,you will go together with the their agent to see the apartment and you will have a period of 24 hours to decide if you keep it or not.
If you don't like the apartment by any plausible reasons, the agent will give you the money back or send it to your account, and you will send them the package back to return me on my expense.
All this time the company will keep the money in holding, I will receive it only after the contract is signed!
If you agree then, you need to send me your full name and address so I will be able to make all the arrangements with the DepositGuard Escrow company.

Many thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Zoe Gough"

Hi All. I work for the real company, DepositGuard located in Austin, Texas. We have been battling this scam artist for some time now and we appreciate you getting the word out as well. We have implemented many security measures to try and prevent this scam. If you go to our site, http://www.depositguard.com at the top of the home page in red we posted: "Please Note: DepositGuard only accepts payments through its website. We do not conduct any transactions via Western Union, MoneyGram or wire. DepositGuard also does not provide any "Key" or "Agent" Services. If someone is offering you a rental mentioning any of these payment choices or services, please refrain from sending any type of payment."

When we did this, the scams reported to us declined however soon thereafter he/she/they found a micro site of ours, http://www.depositguardescrow.com and the scams increased again with the scammer claiming to be from DepositGuard Escrow instead of just DepositGuard. We weren't really using this site for business so last week we took http://www.depositguardescrow.com down altogether.

We have also opened an investigation with the FBI and they are actively working on it. We are encouraged to see that you recognize that we have nothing to do with this and are actually victims of corporate identity theft.