Accommodation Scam In London

Hello Miwako, and welcome to scamwarners. I wish it was under better circumstances, though. I'm very sorry to have to tell this to you, but yes, you have been scammed. The site in question was online for three weeks, and unfortunately that was long enough to lure people into renting an apartment from their site. They are professionals, and I've been hunting their sites for a few months now. It's a neverending battle

I'm afraid there isn't much we can do. You can go to your local police station and report what has happened, so they have a register of it and can follow up on it. The reality however is that these people are very hard to trace: they use fake email adresses, fake telephone numbers and in many cases they operate anonymously from internet cafes. Catching them is near impossible. Your money cannot be retrieved, I'm afraid.

Putting the time pressure on their victims is a common tactic they use: that way they don't leave you much time to think everything over and less people realise it's a scam. This technique has fooled dozens of victims. You are certainly not the first, and most definately not the last person this will happen to.

Be on the lookout for the recovery scam: if you are receiving mails that scammers have been arrested and that a refund wil be paid the chances are big that it's the same gang trying to scam you again. There will be a little fee for documents first and... you see where they are going.

I'm afraid you'll have to tell your friend the bad news and find another place to stay

Thanks for you words Michael
Today i was at the police station and reported what happened.
They tell me that now are investigating on the bank account (i gave them the copy of the money transfer of my bank).
I hope they can resolve this in the future,but i know it's really an hard thing.
I've said all to my friend and now we are searching for another hotel/b&b/whatever because we are departing next weekend!it's such a mess
And of course we can't find nothing now..

I'm glad to hear the police is investigating, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Hi, millions tks to this web site and to those working on it.

I was looking for accommodation in London, on gumtree and on a web called homeaway.com. i got some gumtree reples. one of them (david miller <[email protected]>/) replied me with a very attractive price that seems too good to be true and he asked me to go to this web site to see the terms and conditions:

http://london-city-letting-services.com/index.html

i found out that his ad. on gumtree was taken down. and i sent an email through the booking system on that web he provided. I cant send it and it said:

> *Notice*: Undefined index: in *E:\domains\l\london-city-letting-services.com
> \user\htdocs\process.php* on line *43*
>
> *Warning*: mail()
> [function.mail<http://london-city-letting-services.com/function.mail>]:
> SMTP server response: 554 <[email protected]>: Recipient address
> rejected: Relay access denied in *E:\domains\l\
> london-city-letting-services.com\user\htdocs\process.php* on line *93* email
> could not be sent

i told him this by replying his email to me. he said the web site is going through some upgrading...

here i enclose all the emails he sent me:
Email ONE:

david miller <[email protected]>
to [email protected]

dateMon, Aug 2, 2010 at 5:24 PM
subjectRe: Reply to your ad: Stylish and well presented two bedroomed flat to rent,Artesian Village
mailed-bygooglemail.com
signed-bygmail.com

hide details Aug 2 (4 days ago)


Hi,

Thanks for the interest in our Stylish and well presented two
bedroomed flat to rent,Artesian Village.

We pleased to inform you that the said apartment is still available
for the period you requested.

We charge £300 per week, so you are to pay £322 for the 4 nights you
requested for (A security deposit of £150 included). All bills are
included in the rental fee. We only charge £150 for security deposit
which is refundable provided there is no damage during your stay.

The apartment is absolutely private, the kitchen and the bathroom are
en-suit. It's well furnished and the kitchen is fully equipped.
Facilities like Wi-Fi internet, iron facilities, central heating
system, dryer/washer etc are available. There is also a parking space.
We also provide linen and towels.

Please visit our website at
http://london-city-letting-services.com ... tions.html to go
through our Terms and Conditions

Kindly get back to us to re-confirm your interest so that we can
proceed with the reservation.

Awaiting your response.

David Miller
OPERATION MANAGER


Email TWO:

david miller <[email protected]>
to <[email protected]>

dateThu, Aug 5, 2010 at 1:30 PM
subjectRe: Reply to your ad: Stylish and well presented two bedroomed flat to rent,Artesian Village
mailed-bygooglemail.com
signed-bygmail.com

hide details 1:30 PM (21 hours ago)


Hi,

Thanks for the interest in our Three bedroom apartment in Chelsea.

We are very sorry due to up grading in our site, Please kindly bear with us.


We pleased to inform you that the said apartment is still available
for the period you requested.


We charge £46 per night, so you are to pay £334 for the 4 nights you

requested for (A security deposit of £150 included). All bills are
included in the rental fee. We only charge £150 for security deposit
which is refundable provided there is no damage during your stay.

The apartment is absolutely private, the kitchen and the bathroom are
en-suit. It's well furnished and the kitchen is fully equipped.
Facilities like Wi-Fi internet, iron facilities, central heating
system, dryer/washer etc are available. There is also a parking space.
We also provide linen and towels.


Kindly get back to us to re-confirm your interest so that we can
proceed with the reservation

Awaiting your response,

David Miller


Email THREE
(I asked about the company registration numbers that kind of things and payment method)

fromdavid miller <[email protected]>
to [email protected]

dateFri, Aug 6, 2010 at 9:51 AM
subjectRe: Reply to your ad: Stylish and well presented two bedroomed flat to rent,Artesian Village
mailed-bygooglemail.com
signed-bygmail.com

hide details 9:51 AM (54 minutes ago)


Hi,

You are paying directly to the Landlord's account and is through Bank Transfer.

We use bank transfer because it very ease to trace where the money goes.

We are professionals working with London rentals guide scheme for
safety of our customers.

We are up grading our site that is why you have problem with the
booking form and we have rectify it.

Accept our apology.

Thanks,

David Miller

OPERATION MANAGER


london-city-letting-services.com

Hi,

thank you for reporting this scammer and this fake website to us! I'll hunt it down and do my best to get it closed down asap

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask.

A couple more on this topic that look fake from a whois.

http://www.winter-holiday-lettings.com/

http://westend-rentals.co.uk/

Cheers...

The first is most definately fake - I'll update my post in their thread later this evening. The second one is iffy indeed and most likely fake, but I'll need to do a little research first. I like to be 100% sure before closing down company websites. Thanks alot for reporting!

Maybe let the 2nd one pass for a while - they have my address unfortunately and may put 2 and 2 together about who shopped them.

You don't have to worry . Their websites get closed down all the time and they reopen new ones very fast. They won't put the time and effort into tracing who closed down their last, they'll just move on and spend their energy into building new scams. If they would really want to take revenge on someone that closes their sites, they'd come after me or one of my colleagues. You're certainly not the only one who they were dealing with, so it would be impossible to find out who reported their website in the first place. The chances of them coming after you are zero.

Hi all,

http://www.westend-rentals.co.uk is a scam site too.

We've just fallen for it.

Hi Ricardo,

I am very sorry to hear you were scammed . Could you please forward all emails to my email adress? You can find my adress in my signature, right below my post. If possible, also include some headers. (If you don't know what headers are, I'll be happy to explain it to you.) I'm building my case to get this site closed down and need all the evidence I can get, as this site is a bit more professional than the others we see often. Thanks!

Hi Everyone

Please note that this site was brought to my attention as I too have been scammed - this company are using MY personal fax number to transact business.

I only became aware of this as I received a fax in error from someone who too had been scammed and was chasing them down.

Please do whatever you can to shut this site down - I've contacted my eFax provider who are unable to serve any papers on http://www.westend-rentals.co.uk as the phone number does not work and the email address is invalid.

I have a copy of a financial transaction which took place in the Czech Republic if you need this to build your case.

The Lynchster

<Mod note: Site is being investigated - Michael>

Hi,

First a huge thank you to the admins of this site it has been remarkably helpful.

We have been looking for accomodation in the UK and came across the site http://www.winterandsummerflats.com

Being cautious of scams, particularly ones that require western union transfer, I wanted to ensure that any money exchange was to be done through a bank.

Our money bounced back (luckily for us) and they have since requested the money be deposited via a western union account. I have not transferred any money and was just wondering if you can look into this and if it is a scam, try to close it down.

Please find the main two emails from the trail below:

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
To: XXXXXX
Sent: Thu, 2 December, 2010 7:14:38
Subject: Re: £35 / 1br - Linden Gardens, Notting Hill, W2 4HD (Central London/Notting Hill) Your Booking Reference: XXXX

XXXXXXXX,

Your Booking Reference: XXXXXXXX

Total deposit required is £XXX.

To proceed with the booking of the apartment.

Please complete the apartment booking arrival form attach with this message

Below is the information to make the deposit of £XXX:

Account Nmae: Kali Devandran
Account Number:76155019
Sort code: 30-00-87
Iban: gb61icic30008776155019
Swift Code:icicgb2l
Bank Name:ICICI Bank
Address:50 HIGH STREET, EGHAM, SURREY, TW20 9EU.
Bank Address:46-48 High Street Nth, East Ham, LONDON, E6 2HJ

We will need the copy of the transfer confirmation from your bank, the scanned copy,very important.

We will send the booking confirmation and how to receive the keys once we have received your deposit and confirm your booking.

Regards,

Rajan & Muthu

http://www.winterandsummerflats.com

(note the phone numbers given were +44(0)7024020313 and fax +44(0)7024020983)


[email protected] to me
Thanks for your recent message, Today is Thursday and we have not receive any deposit from your Bank, i will advice you to use another alternative to make

the payment, we believe the first deposit will surely come back to your Bank if it fails to reach here.

We have had an inquiry for the same dates that you want to be there and since we didn't receive your deposit, we are worried and will like to inform you to

make the deposit through another fast and easy means, we will still keep track on the first deposit you sent, so that we will inform you and refund you back

on your arrival, if it finally comes in.

We will advise you to send the deposit through Western Union Money Transfer, you can send it online with a credit card or you visit an Agent in your city.

Send the (£XXX) deposit with the information below.

NAME: Kali Devandran

Address:50 HIGH STREET, EGHAM, SURREY, TW20 9EU.


Send us the MTCN ,senders name and address, after you send the money, we will send the booking confirmation to your email, including the directions and terms

and conditions, we will like to have you in our place.

Thanks

Creation Date: 23-nov-2010
Expiration Date: 23-nov-2011

So the website is less than 3 weeks old, registered for only a year.

44-70 numbers are redirect or forwarding phone numbers used by scammers pretending to be in UK when they are really somewhere else.

Definite scam. Our site killers will set the ball rolling on this one soon.

hello all,
i being scammed too,called the person many time after 1st call he said in meeting,second time he hang up..none of my email are replied..
i just wondering can i make a police report in London since the apt in London.Too bad i lost almost one thousand pound which converted to our currencies multiply by 5..go figure.....
i konw i can never get the money back...
Please let me know if i can report this to UK police and what are the supporting document for the report.
Appreciate replies..
Regards...