Thanks! Your previous posts saved me a scam.
I "thought" I had found a nice apartment through immobilienscout24.de
The "owner" contacted me from a gmail account, here's his email:
*************************************
Hello,
First I'm sorry that I contacted you in English, but I don't speak German and also thank you that you are interested in my apartment for rent situated in Eschholzstraße 26, 79106 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Apartment have 58m² and is situated on the second floor and have 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom, 1-kitchen and 1-living room, 1 Garage and was renovated in April 2013, it is newly furnished and equipped with all the utilities ( washing machine, air conditioning, internet, phone, plasma TV, DVD player, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer etc.). Also the apartment is near the public transportation, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, pharmacies and everything you could possibly need. The apartment is rented furnished and equipped ( all the furniture is new and modern ). In case that you decide to use your furniture, you can store my furnitures in the large basement cellar. For me are no problems if you have any pets, as long as you clean up after them.
At first, I want to introduce myself personally, my name is Luther Swahn and I'm 44 years old Management Consultant in Leeds / United Kingdom. I was born in Germany but I live since 1975 in Leeds with my family. The apartment I inherited from my grandfather who died 2 years ago. I live here in Leeds with my family ( my wife Maria Swahn and my daughter Natalia Swahn ) and we don’t use the apartment from Germany. This is the reason that I decide to rent it. I would like to rent my apartment in nice and responsible people , and I would need some personal information about you ( your name, how many people you want to stay in the apartment as long if you have a steady income, etc ).
The rent price for every month will be 405 Euro and very important is that all the bills for hot water, cold water, gas, heat, electricity, cable TV, internet access are included in the rent price. For the first month you have also to pay the security deposit ( Kaution ) and will be 405 Euro but will be refunded when you leave the apartment ( you need at least 30 days in advance let me know ).
Unfortunately, my job does not let me go, even for a single day, so I will not be able to come and meet you personally for a while, but this won’t affect the rental at all. I can make arrangements to have a real estate agency to handle everything for me and takes care of everything you need to receive the keys and the rental contract.
Give me in your next email more information about yourself, and if you seem trustworthy to me, I will explain the whole process about the rental company. I hope you will be an ideal tenant, and believe we can bring our conversations in a short time to complete.
Friendly greetings from the United Kingdom!
*************************************
After my reply, he sent another email, which sounded too fishy:
*************************************
Hello again,
You seem to be a very nice person and I can assure you we will not have any problems .
I have inform you before, the price you shall pay for the first month of rent will be 405 Euro ( money for the first month in which you move in apartment ) and I want also security deposit ( Kaution ) 405 Euro, in total in the first month you have to pay 810 Euro without additional charges to pay. The money for the next months (405 euro) I want to receive monthly in my bank account, so I hope it will be no problem for you to wire money.
I'm willing to send you the keys so you can visit and check the apartment. The delivery for the keys and the rental contract (signed by me), will be made by a real estate company they will also help us to make a third party transaction so you can therefore feel safe about this deal. The real estate company that I hire to make the transaction is a international company and is called VipCon Rental Company and you can find more information on them website (
www.vipcon-rental-company.eu ).
To start the transaction with the real estate company I need to send me all this details:
Full name:
Address:
City:
Postal Code:
Country:
Mobile phone number:
ID Card number or Passport number:
Date of Birth:
Date you want to move in the apartment:
Rental period that you want to stay:
Now let me to explain you how the transaction it works:
After I received all this details, I can go to real estate company office and start the transaction. When the real estate company will have the keys and the real estate company on them custody, they will send you a delivery notification, in which they tell you that they have the keys and that they checked it.
When you receive the delivery notification from real estate company, you will have to go your bank office and make a bank transfer on the VipCon Rental Company in United Kingdom, assigned with this transaction for the amount we agreed ( 810 Euro ). If you don` have time to go to your bank office you can make the payment online to the bank account of the real estate company. I must to tell you that the payment must to be made in 24 hours or early after the transaction was started.
After you make the deposit you will have to send to real estate company the payment confirmations from bank money transfer, so they can know that you already made the deposit. VipCon Rental Company will verify the payment and if everything is in order they will delivery the keys and the rental contract to you in 48 Hours. The real estate company will send to you an agent at your house door, and that person will come with you to visit the apartment to see that all is right. If you will be satisfied with the flat, you will sign the rental contract. However, if you are not pleased with the apartment for any reason, the real estate company agent will give you the money back immediately, and I will get my keys and documents back ( I will write on the rental contract this condition, to be sure that you will get your money back ). Also I will write on the rental contract to have three days to check the apartment better, and after these three days, you have to contact the real estate company and tell them your decision ( if you want to keep the apartment or no ).
Also, in case you have another apartment right now, and you can't move immediately, we can make the deal as I explained it now, and consider it only an inspection and reservation until you will be able to move there.
I will pay for the services of the agency, so there will be no costs for you.
I am waiting for your quick response, because there are several others interested in the apartment, and I need to know if I can count on a deal with you.
Thank's and have a good day
Very Important: Only VipCon Rental Company has access to this transaction for more security. Your money will be in safe in VipCon Rental Company custody and I hope you read my e-mail very well, and know that you have to pay before see the apartment.
*************************************
I looked up VipCon Rental Company to realize it's a scam. VipCon Rental Company has a fake website that may seem authentic at a first glance.
Cheers folks.
Ka