Is this a fraud or am I unnaturally lucky?

[onuraydin 1]

Hello everyone,

 

Upon my endless searches for an accommodation, from studenten-wg.com i've found this guy who reply me back as this:

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Hi,Thanks for replying to my advert.The available piece is actually a 2 bedroom apartment located in the beautiful street in "I HIDE THE ADRESS" Germany very close to the citycenter, Set in a quiet side street in Munich 's Schwabing district.The rooms are bright rooms with satellite TV and private bathrooms. Wi-Fi is available as well.

 

The apartemnt is just steps away from the Amalienstraße bus stop,served by the museum line. The Odeonsplatz U-Bahn (underground)

station is a 5-minute walk away.

 

All the rooms in the apartment is furnished and equipped,in fact it has just been renovated with modern facility including high speed

internet..Each room in the apartment has it own private toilet and bath with a shared kitchen and living room.I have just secured a new

job in UK and i have been provided an accommodation too so that was why i want to rent it out...

 

Each room is 320Euro including all bills,with deposit of 500Euro and the whole apartment cost 640Euro,and a security deposit of

1000Euro.So to reserve the place,both rent and deposit will be paid to be sure of getting the apartment..But note that deposit will be

refunded after your stay in the apartment if nothing is vandalized in the apartment..

 

Viewing wont be possible for now as i have returned to UK where i resume my job on Monday.Pictures will be available upon request..

My skype name is "I HIDE IT" so add me if you are on skype so we can chat..

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well, I tslked to him on skype, then I told him I have to see more proof and he came up with this idea:

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I can understand your fears over paying money or signing contract for an unseen property due to high rate of Scandal on internet.And i hope

you can understand my fears over coming down to show you the flat all the way from united kingdom "or posting my keys to you as i have no contact for now",without any form of assurance that you are in deed serious,as i have been involved about 2 times when i came to the country only to

waste my time as the renters did not show up.So i have spoken with my adviser and we came up with a solution...

 

I can book my flight ticket back to the country from here on tommorrow or next but first i have to be sure the money is ready so here is what you

would do.You will have to go to the western union office now and transfer the 2 months month rent and deposit together in the name of your friend as the receiver and you will use any uk address as the destination but if you have a contact in the uk then you can use his/her address in uk then you show a proof of the payment like a scanned copy of the receipt or the details on it so that i can check with western union if the money is truly available

with them and the amount is correct.After this i will book my ticket immediately and we can meet inside the flat then we both can sign the

contract right inside the flat then for me to get the money,we both will go back to western union office to take the money for me or you

can easily change the receivers name to mine so that i can pick up the money ..I hope you will be able to do this transfer today i can come by Tommorrow.So the receipt would be like this

Sender's name .....your name

Receiver's name.....Your Friend's Name

Address...... . ..any uk address

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So, is this a professional fraud or I just find my dream apartment?

[Kay 4,137]

Sounds like a S-C-A-M. The only variation from earlier cases seems to be the use of skype, so if you actually talked to the person it might be a genuine offer after all.

 

Look through these threads before making up your mind: Rental scams.

Whatever you do, don't part with any money before you've actually seen the apartment.

 

Edit: I think this settles it:

 

 

You will have to go to the western union office now and transfer the 2 months month rent and deposit together

[TroutKing 665]

 

You will have to go to the western union office now [...]

 

You even have to ask whether this is a scam?

[eurobabs 644]

It might be worth contacting the site you fount this ad on and let them know so that they can remove it, as there are indeed people who are stupid enough to send money to a western union ;)

[Kenner 159]

it's a popular scam

 

So search and read b4 you get taken

 

Just to add, talking to someone is no guarantee it's an honest deal. And this ...

 

 

Viewing wont be possible for now as i have returned to UK where i resume my job on Monday

Should be enough to send red flags. Why would you want to rent a place, sight unseen, relying only on some internet stock photos. Real landlords make either themselves or an agent available for viewings.

 

Give a pass and i agree with what was mentioned above, report the ad.

[onuraydin 1]

well, because I talked the person -just his voice- I have doubts about that. puff, searching again then :(

[eurobabs 644]

Don't give up. Here are some google hits for searching for WG in Munich

[onuraydin 1]

thanks eurobabs,

well my bad luck is on duty again

I found a Studentenwerk's Wohnheim at Oberschleissheim though, have many concerns of it(far distance, transportation, boring life etc)

Thanks you people again, the best help for me is just finding this wonderful site with a lot of helping people.

[Keydeck 9,248]

 

You will have to go to the western union office now and

 

Guaranteed scam. No legimate person or business will use Western Union, only Africans sending money home and scammers (also generally Africans) use it.

[srlake 6]

Definitely a scam. 100%

[bal00 1,917]

Agreed. Scam. You transfer the money using Western Union and tell them the name/address of the person you sent it to, they're gonna have someone in Nigeria pick it up with a forged ID and that'll be the end of it.

[Rimini 974]

Definitely report the add. In fact, with the prevalance of this kind of scam, all those popular WG and apartment hunting sites would do well to put up big warnings for the gullible...

[robinson100 12,852]

What for me points out that this is a scam is actually the use of Western Union - most "normal" Brits wouldn't even think to use Western Union - they would either have a bank account here which could be used (especially since the prospective "Landlord" has to go "back to the UK" for his job), or an account in the UK into which money cuold be transferred.

I wouldn't touch this one with a bargepole!

[Cadbury 591]

SCAM.

 

http://www.callferret.com/447024063570.html/5

 

This is a common means of scamming. The owner of the apartment is abroad. The scammer may also send you a passport photo page to gain your trust (and you may send one back to return that trust). The passport photo most likely belongs to someone previously scammed.

 

Scammers often use the same email and insert different addresses, countries etc. If you want to find out rather quickly whether something may possibly be a scam, take part of a sentence that has a typo or bad grammar and google it using quotations. To find the link I included in this post I googled "apartemnt is just steps away from". The longer the scam runs, the more posts you may find regarding it.

 

Best of luck.

[poppet 4,010]

 

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well, I tslked to him on skype, then I told him I have to see more proof and he came up with this idea:

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Did it occur to anyone else that whoever wrote the bit above my 'quote' has a different command of English to whoever wrote the bit below my 'quote'?

[punkinside 1,153]

definitely a scam. just in case it isn't just tell him to get an agent to show you the apt. in germany they have to be paid by the renter anyway so theres no cost for him.

[sumayai 0]

Please be aware of rental scams on ImmobilienScout24.de Scammers are posting ads on the site and once you send a request to view the apartment they will reply by saying that they currently live abroad and will make time to personally meet with you if you are certain that you can afford the apartment and would like to rent it.They then request that you make a Western Union transfer to your spouse and send them the proof of transfer(claiming that it proves that you have the funds)

They then impersonate the recipient and collect the money you have transferred.Do not fall for this scam, always make sure that you meet with the landlord\agent personally to view the property and no money is exchanged without a signed lease.

[itsnikee 16]

I also think that no landlord or agent, has the necessity, time and patience to write such long emails to potential tenants. If the offer was genuine, he/she would get a tenant much more easily with much less effort.

 

The length of the email, and things like "every room has an attached toilet", all inclusive pricing and drastically lower per sqm rental are all dead giveaways.

 

cheers,

itsnikee

[yourkeau 7,723]

the UK is Nigeria of Europe, the only country which allows to collect money from Western Union without proper ID check.

 

So, if you see "I moved to the UK" in any ad, this is scam.