Rental scammer: [email protected],[email protected]

Hello everyone,

I got two emails from some "Landlords from Denmark" recently:

Case 1:

Hello,
My name is Caron, I am from Denmark and the flat is still available for rent. It was redecorated last year is looking very nice and clean. Has a fully furnished kitchen, clean and well tidy sitting rooms, laundry room and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge,Vacuum Cleaner,Toaster, Owen and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready,TV set and DVD player, Internet connection, equipped kitchen and everything a house needs. I m interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.
The price I want is £480 per month, bills included and I am interested in a long term agreement, minimum 6 months!
If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat (I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Aberdeen to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no one showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologies if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!
I will wait for your e-mail

I emailed "her" back and "her" response was:

Hello,
I've attached some pictures of the flat,floor plan and also a model of the rental contract! The flat is located on 9 KINGS GATE, AB15 4E . I can`t give you the exact address because there`s no one living there and I`m afraid of thieves.I do apologize for this but I hope you understand the situation with me being in Denmark right now! The property has a reception room, a kitchen with washing machine/tumble dryer, a master bedroom with fitted wardrobes and en suite bathroom, second bedroom with fitted wardrobe and bathroom.Parking place is included too!
In the kitchen there is a dishwasher and also a Big fridge freezer!
Regarding the council tax, I can tell you that it is included in the price of £480 per month, as well as Sky TV,internet broadband,gas and electricity, all included in this price! I am interested in a six months minimum agreement and I ask for two months rent in advance, plus the equivalent of one month as a refundable deposit, which you will get back at the end of the contract.
Regarding the plumbings and all that kind of stuff, I can tell you that the flat was recently renewed and all electrical parts and plumbings are new, so no repairs will be necessary. Anyway I have a person who can manage this starting from November.
If you are sure you want to view the flat let me know because there is another person interested in reserving it!
Kind regards

I emailed "her" back and she responded:

I can make it there this weekend for a viewing if that is ok for you, I also need you to confirm that you will have the funds ready (two months rent and one month deposit-£1440) at the time of our meeting because I don`t want to make two trips from Denmark, one for the viewing and another to sign the agreement and give you the keys.
When do you want to move? How many persons in total?
Regards

The I emailed "her" back:

Hi Caron,

Sorry for the rapid emailing, but I have consulted some of my work colleagues about your flat and they think it would be best for me to actually get there and see it for myself. They also had concerns about the steep advanced deposit so unless we negotiate the terms of the payment, plus a flat viewing at a later date when I arrive (likely to be around the 15th September) it might be best for you to offer your flat to the other person who's interested. I'm sorry, I was genuinely interested but if you're in a rush to lease your flat to someone, I understand and don't want to waste your time.

And the trail went cold after that....

Then just yesterday I got a response from a different "Landlord":

Case 2:

Hello,
My name is Panon, I am from Denmark and the flat is still available for rent. It was redecorated last year, is looking very nice and clean. It's fully furnished , has home utilities like: vacuum cleaner, toaster, oven and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready,TV set and DVD player, Internet connection and everything a house needs. I'm interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.
The price I want is £400 per month, bills included and I am interested in a long term agreement, minimum 6 months!
If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat (I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Aberdeen to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no one showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologies if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!
I will wait for your e-mail

Hope this post helps people...I am very tempted to play along with "Panon" but it's probably best to not to indulge "him"...

Hi thanks for posting about this apartment my friend at work has same contact through gumtree for same apartment that you got email about , it was on Sunday and it was from panon lafarge he wants to meet sat 27 /9/14 but he wants £1200 so I think is a big scam as they want him to put it into western Union account but thanks to your post he is more wary of it now

Adding two more names to this thread:

[email protected] & [email protected]

This ad is currently on Gumtree (as at 15.35 26/11/2014):

http://www.gumtree.com/p/2-bedrooms-ren ... 1090527370

I'm currently looking for a flat to this seemed too good to be true (going off the photos this is an apartment based in Leftbank Spinningfields, Manchester, which are on the rental market for about £1,200/month, 2 bed, no parking).

The Gumtree ad was advertising for £485 (inc parking and ALL bills). Sounded fishy from the start but I still contacted her. Tried the mobile first;no answer, so reverted to the email.

She replied with this response (which is pretty much identical to the emails highlighted in this thread:

Hello,

My name is Barbara, I am from Denmark and the flat is still available for rent. It was redecorated last year is looking very nice and clean. Has a fully furnished kitchen, clean and well tidy sitting rooms, laundry room and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge, Vacuum Cleaner, Toaster, Owen and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready, TV set and DVD player, Internet connection, equipped kitchen and everything a house needs. I'm interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.

The price I want is £485 for the whole property monthly, bills included and I am interested in a long term agreement, minimum 3 months!

If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat (I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Manchester to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no one showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologies if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!

I will wait for your e-mail,

The more I read it, the more it sounded too good to be true. Then I had a sudden feeling of deja vu.....

Went into my inbox and searched for 'Denmark' and to my surprise an email I had received earlier in the year (when I was also looking) popped up.

This was the mail:

Hello,

My name is Samuel, I am from Denmark and the flat is still available for rent. Yes, pets are allowed also the flat it was redecorated last year is looking very nice and clean. Has a fully furnished kitchen, clean and well tidy sitting rooms, laundry room and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge, Vacuum Cleaner, Toaster, Owen and microwave, dryer, iron, washing machine , refrigerator , dishwasher, power shower, heater, cable ready, TV set and DVD player, Internet connection, equipped kitchen and everything a house needs. I'm interested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.

The price I want is £485 for the whole property monthly, bills included and I am interested in a long term agreement, minimum 3 months!

If you are decided to view the flat and have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the tenancy agreement if you like my flat (I am sure you will love it) but first I have to be sure you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to Manchester to meet him and sign the tenancy agreement and when I arrived there no one showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing. Please accept my apologies if I am rude but I hope you will understand me!

I will wait for your e-mail,

Sounds similar? and this was the advertisement in question:

http://www.hallo.co.uk/ads/flats-and-ho ... er/2232686

Same building and similar ad.

So i've added the two email addreses to this thread so please be careful

Also, the mobile number for the most recent ad (Barbara) is 07762338396. Did a quick search on Google for this and a post came up re a missing dog search so not sure if it's the same person.

I doubt these people are actually based in Denmark

My next step is to report to Gumtree and also the Manchester Police (not sure if the latter would actually done anything)