Is this a scam?

Graycat

Morning, all

I've got a bit of an interesting situation going on at present and could do with your knowledgeable inputs.

I'm currently house / flat hunting with my house mate and have found a few good ones through agencies as well as privately. One in particular is very interesting as it is just below our budget and in a great area for either of us to get to work. I've been talking to the landlord via e-mail this morning about the property and it seems on the up and up, however the landlord says they live in Glasgow so will need proof that we'll be able to pay the deposit and rent etc. The thing that worries me is that they're asking for some weird Western Union thing where I transfer the money to myself or a friend etc and let them see the receipt.

To be honest I was ok with this whole thing until Western Union was brought into the equation and now I'm thinking this may well be a scam. Upon rereading the e-mails I've noticed more that there is bad english and grammer etc and the whole situation is making me a bit wary. I'm going to swing past the place on my way home tonight and see if it even exists in the first place.

So what do you guys think? Is there anyway I can prove that I've got the funds without letting them have access to them or using Western Union?

m1ntie

This is definately a scam, probably originating from Nigeria - do not have any more contact.

ncooper1974

Its a scam.
I would post a link to how this works, but can't find it

brightonman123

wire transfer means no bank a/c? or maybe they dont want money traced to them... sounds a bit iffy.

TJ27

I would be VERY cautious.

BillTrac

Hi Graycat,

I can't understand either what he would gain by seeing a receipt for monies sent to yourself or a friend. It wouldn't prove anything about you paying your bills. Western Union is a method of transfering monies ( as anyone familiar with the Nigerian 419 scams-and others I know)but if you transfer the money to yourself(eh?) and then withdraw it, even with the receipt how is he any better off trusting you for payments.

I don't rent(used to 30 years ago) but I thought the deposit schemes were supposed to provide security on deposits for both LL and renter. The deposit would be guaranteed I assume.

I really,really think this is a bit fishy and I personally would stay well clear

Graycat

Thanks for the replies, folks.

I think this might be a case of something being too good to be true unfortunately. I'll play this guy along and see what I can get out of him with regards to information etc but I'm certainly not using W.U. for anything.

Shame really as it would have worked out nicely lol

Edit: just to make things more interesting, the advert has now disappeared from the free advert site. Hhhhmmm, is that fish I smell? lol

maninthestreet

Yes, it's definitely a scam. Have you actually visited the property youself?
If you have emails from this guy, you can display the full headers and identify the IP address from which the email was sent.

pizzagirl

Western Union automatically rings alarm bells. Beware!

becky_rtw

Yeah, this is a old scam it goes like this:
You transfer money to a mate or relative for required amount and send a copy of the recipet to them
They make fake passport or ID of the person you transferred it to
They go into local WU and get money (often they have WU people on a kickback as wel).
You go to collect money and its gone, scammer disappears and you've lost money, WU deny all knowledge and police won't get involved.

For more examples of scams check out the gumtree accomodation forum (attached to London gumtree) ... you can even post yours up there so others can watch for it too and hopefully stop someone else getting scammed!

jimc_2

ncooper1974 wrote: »

Its a scam.
I would post a link to how this works, but can't find it

THIS IS DEFINITELY A SCAM! Here's how it works. it's not Nigerian, it's everywhere!