Possible Rental Scam Apartment Barcelona

Hello! I'm looking for an apartment in barcelona and I found a pretty good deal on http://www.enalquiler.com/

Its a beautiful place at a very nice price, so you can understand my doubts.

Hope you can help me.

On the website appears a phone number that did not work. I wrote on the website form and a person replied to my email:

"FROM: [email protected]

Hello,
The apartment is still available. As you can see from the pictures is in excellent condition, very clean and very well kept. Is the first time I'm renting this apartment and I'm trying to find a responsible tenant to take good care of the place.
You can use my furniture if you want and everything from the apartment otherwise you can deposit it in the storage unit that is near the building not far away. Of course I will cover the costs for movers. The apartment rent is € 500/month with everything included-all the utilities (heat, hydro, water, electricity, laundry in-suite, washer and dryer also included, cable and internet). Everything in the apartment is new or renovated so there is no need for repairs but just in case I will cover the costs.
Note that the apartment is a private property, already paid in full and NO mortgage on it. The surrounding area is great. Schools and groceries near-by. I'm sure you will have everything that you need there because is one of the most important areas in the city. Pets and children are allowed in the building. Now about me: I'm a structural engineer and I work for MWH Global Engineering, I'm 45 years old, married, with 2 children. I worked hard to have a good career and I really respect hard earned money. The company I work for they have projects all around the world so most of my time I'm traveling. The apartment will be available for the next 6 years for sure. I want to rent the place on my own because it's a private property therefore I need to send you the keys and the papers. I'm sure we can find a way for both of us to be satisfied.
Best regards,
Alexandra Francisc"

I replied to that email and her next comments were:

"Hi, it's nice to have a reply from you so quickly!
I'm in London now.
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 think you can understand me.. and finally I request for a 2 months deposit (1 month warranty+1 month of rent).
Hope to hear from you soon and I'll explain you more about how we will do this.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Francisc"

And the last thing I got from her was:


"Hi Alejandro,
Thanks!
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), 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"

How could I know if this is a scam? Any suggestions?

It is a definite scam.

Only in the imaginary world of scammers do apartment/homeowners send their keys to strangers based on emails.

In the real world, an apartment owner would either meet an prospective tenant in person, or he would have a friend or a local agent who would physically meet you at the apartment so that you could see it, and so an inspection could be performed when you moved in to note any damage to the apartment. A real owner might go on a short vacation, but he would not go for an extended period of time without leaving access to someone--what if a pipe burst, or there was a fire, or something happened? He would make sure there was someone who was able to take care of emergencies.

Notice that the scammer talks about an escrow company, but then tells you to send the information to him. That's because he is planning to send you a fake email, pretending to be from the escrow site, to make you think that it is ok to send your money.

You can see that scammers have been using this same script for a while. Notice the exact same words were used by a scammer claiming to have an apartment in Virginia over months ago:
http://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=81724

Luckily, your instinct has saved you a lot of grief!

I too have been looking for an apartment in Barcelona and found an apartment that sounded great. I emailed [email protected]

and after a few emails received this one:


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

Such a scam DepostGuard just hold your rent they DO NOT offer agents' services. It clearly states this in RED on the site. Avoid this scam

[AlanJones]

The website http://www.depositguardescrow.com/ appears to be legitimate.

Hi, I've been victim of this rental scam also, in fact i was thinking that I found a really great "opportunity" : http://www.yaencontre.com/alquiler/apartamento/inmueble-u3004847_8119740 and i started talking with the home owner and it is incredible, I don't know why but my mind has always been not okay with this appart but I wanted to insist in case my first impression was wrong, i started being suspicious when I realised that after all I said to the women she was insensitive like a robot (or a over manly scammer) so i decided to copy and paste the whole email to google, the emails are the exact same, this is all the emails I got from this Angelika Gensch:

Hola, yo prefiero que me responda en Inglese porque mi español no es muy bueno..

My name is Angelika Gensch. I'm a 44 years old Polish woman and I worked in the last year as an designer in Barcelona. Now I'm back to Warsaw and I'm planning to settle down in my hometown. This is the reason why I rent my flat located on Carrer de Ramon Turró 56, 08005 Barcelona.
The rent is 450 € per month includes all the utilities(water,electricity,gas). It's completely furnished and equipped!

The only inconvenient is that I'm the only person who has the keys of the apartment and I'm in Warsaw now but I have a solution to solve this problem, so you can move in the flat when you receive the keys.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

Best regards,
Angelika



After i responded she answered with this :


Hello Rim,
thanks for answering me so quickly.

I can rent the apartment for unlimited period, so you can rent it for what period you want.

The apartment is available, you will only have to receive the keys and contract to check it. In order of that,I've found a way for us to complete the deal 100% safely and fast, so you will receive the keys in less than 3 days. The solution I've chosen is provided by RentPayment company; 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.

Regarding the monthly payments I want to receive them in my personal bank account,so I hope that it's for you.

I would like to know more details about you. This just to know us better, it's important for me to know who will live in my flat.
I think you can understand me.. and finally I request money for 1 month of rent + 2 months warranty.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards,
Angelika


then this :


Good night and thanks for the details.

Yes, near of the flat is a metro stations, groceries stores and taxi stations.
It's fine for me if you will rent my apartment from October 2015 and if you will visit it in September.

I will inform you about how RentPayment service works. You will need to deposit into RentPayment bank account the money for 1 month of rent + 2 months warranty= 1350 €, so they can proceed with the shipping and you will receive the package.

I will explain you how RentPayment service works:
- To start the transaction I will need your name and address,so I can go to the RentPayment office and make all arrangements.
- RentPayment will check the envelope and if everything is in order, they will send you a invoice to let you know they have the package in custody.
- After you will receive the payment invoice, you will need to transfer the money in their bank account.
- After the payment is checked, you will receive the package in 3-5 hours at your address. Then,you will go with their Agent to see the flat. If you don't like the flat by any reason, the agent will give you the money back and you will send them the package back to return me.
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 forward me your details so I will be able to start the transaction with RentPayment.

Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.


the email is : [email protected]

But i didnt spend anything thanks to you guys so i really want to help others as you helped me, and sorry for my bad english !! be careful and take care