Urgent question about renting from Gumtree

sooz

kirstylyn wrote: »

Okay, thank you for this, it just says on Gumtree's estate agency page that this is something they do:
"If the Landlord doesn't live in the same city where is located his property to rent, Gumtree requests a warranty deposit to be made by the Tenant, as a proof of good will and commitment to rent the property, and have the necessary funds available...This transaction uses Western Union as method of making a deposit. The Tenant will have to make a warranty deposit equally with the sum of one month rent, and the security deposit, before meeting the Landlord, inspect and rent the property"


I am very confused, I thought Gumtree was legit...

You should sent a link to that page to gumtree admin/scam email.
Gumtree itself is legit. It's a place where anyone can advertise, like loot or other free ads.
Someone is using the gumtree name to try to scam you.
As others have said, never send any money to anyone via western union. It is only used by scammers.

brightonman123

http://brighton.gumtree.com/help/stay_safe#item73
general guidelines.. though as landlord (supposedly) in another part of the country, i would have thought they would be using an agency to deal with viewings etc.

AVOID!

maninthestreet

brightonman123 wrote: »

http://brighton.gumtree.com/help/stay_safe#item73
general guidelines.. though as landlord (supposedly) in another part of the country, i would have thought they would be using an agency to deal with viewings etc.

AVOID!

Just in case it's not that obvious, that linked page states:


o Never send or wire money to landlords. This includes never mailing a cheque or using payment services like Bidpay, Western Union or Money Gram to pay for items found on Gumtree. It is our belief that these forms of funds transfer are favoured by fraudsters.

kirstylyn

Thanks for all your advice, I have reported them to Gumtree and have started looking for somewhere else. I was devastated this morning as I thought everything was all worked out for us but thankfully there was not much harm done. They have contacted me again since saying it was all above board.. but I know better now

Designerwear

Its a scam

laffer

kirstylyn wrote: »

Thanks for all your advice, I have reported them to Gumtree and have started looking for somewhere else. I was devastated this morning as I thought everything was all worked out for us but thankfully there was not much harm done. They have contacted me again since saying it was all above board.. but I know better now

Its a scam. Well done for not jumping in and asking around before you sent the money across. A valuable lesson! Gumtree itself is fine for searching for property. Just never hand any cash over until you have a signed agreement and the keys to the property - it also helps to do property searches at the LT office (you can do it online and only costs £3) to match up the name of the person advertising with the person who owns the propety. It is not fool proof but does help to add an extra layer to the process.

i4U

I am a lanlord and I post in Gumtree (London), and I wouldn't advise you to do this. You must view first. This could be a scam.

hallabaloo

Although, even having a local landlord doesn't guarantee anything. Mine has lied to the council about the number of bedrooms he's renting out so has cocked up the council tax for us all. I'm moving out (if I can find something on Gumtree that ISN'T advertised by a scammer) but god, London is Rackman city.

superfran_uk

Thank god you did not fall for this! If it sounds too good to be true yadda yadda yadda!

iscrimger

Gumtree is good but while I was searching for a flat I got emails about a post I made daily with this scam. I played along with one to see how far they would go to convince me. One even went to the trouble of sending me a selection of pictures of the property - my response to this was brilliant and I never heard anything else.

https://www.lettingweb.com covers England but not in great amounts. I'm sure there are other similar sites - a lot of Letting Agencies will use Gumtree & a website to advertise the same property.