Gumtree, flathunting and scammers! aarghgh!!

pug_in_a_bed

:mad:

So frustrated at the moment, so this is more of a rant. Been looking on gumtree for a flat for the past week, and roughly 90% of the replies I get are from scammers grrrr

Some examples Ive had are those who have contacted their 'lawyer' who has determined that I am good to rent to, I can email said lawyer at trevor@lawyers.com (no joke!); I can send them a western union payment which they will return on receipt, to prove I have the funds to pay; one told me he was from belfast yet his an english was atrocious - I was so angry by this point that I emailed him back to suggest he learn better english before commencing a scam (or words to that effect), his reply was

Your mother was my English teacher, i am speaking from your mothers English...Fooooooooool!! B**tardddddddddddd!!!!!!!!!!!!:rotfl:

Someone else was in france, working for their church but would fly over asap to meet me...someone else posted photos which had a view out the window which was definately not the street, in this case a terrace in liverpool, as there was a whacking great mountain outside it!!

So, so frustrated:mad:; you start with what appears to be a great flat, or at least a nice one, send a message, generally the first one back is ok - things like when can you move etc, how long for. Then when I provide those details, I get the mad response about western union. Just completely wastingmy time and energy and there's virtually no way to tell on reading the ads if they're genuine, unless of course they state 'trash' to be included in the bills, whatever that means....:cool:

I need a quick move and fuming every time i open my inbox!:mad:

savemoney

Yes this was highlighted on watchdog earlier this year before BBC ruined it the other week

edgex

DONT USE GUMTREE


stick to the proper property sites like rightmove & estate agents / lettings agents

Kizzy001

I use Gumtree to rent out my flat, i know that there are a lot of scammers out there, but there are also people out there who actually do have a property to rent out.
I have found all my tenants through Gumtree and to be honest if Gumtree wasn't there i'm not sure where i would advertise without having to sign up to pay estate agent fees etc.

dacouch

I advertise rooms on Gumtree and about 30% of the replies are from scammers, they always give themselves away by having incredible jobs eg Zooligist or Palentoligist etc and go into great detail about themselve with poor grammer.

They always ask some stupid questions (Usually ones that are answered in the advert) and then ask what the deposit is.

I normally reply "The deposit is 419"

Spartacus_Mills

dacouch wrote: »

I

I normally reply "The deposit is 419"

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pug_in_a_bed

i use it all the time for loads of stuff and have got myself houses from it twice, all the local agents use it too so its my best bet most of the time.

my favourite was the mountain view photo from a terrace in liverpool though:rotfl:

TurkishDelight

Sorry for all your hassle OP, but that really made me laugh Hope you find something genuine soon.

Wench

have a look on letalife ( google it, I dont know if its .com or. co.uk )

Excellent site to look for rental property, can also put up wanted ads.

Hope you find somewhere x

Dr.Rock

Kizzy001 wrote: »

I use Gumtree to rent out my flat, i know that there are a lot of scammers out there, but there are also people out there who actually do have a property to rent out.
I have found all my tenants through Gumtree and to be honest if Gumtree wasn't there i'm not sure where i would advertise without having to sign up to pay estate agent fees etc.

It's just that looking through 100 scams to find 1 genuine flat is a waste of time. Someone who is looking for a flat is likely to be someone who has a lot on their plate at that time anyway.
Any mention of Western Union means it's a definite scam. A good tip is to ask a few questions about the area, or even specifics about the flat. As the scammers will have never been there then they won't be able to reply or will make their intentions so obvious from the lack of knowledge in their reply.
Going through an agent doesn't always mean you get good service and a decent property, especially in London.
Sites like Rightmove etc. are so out of date with what properties are on the site that it's best just to get a few agents numbers and ask directly if they have anything that fits your criteria.

Gumtree_company_representative

Hey all

I understand the frustration with scammers when using internet sites. Unfortunately, it is a reality of the Internet and it happens on Gumtree as well as most other listing sites.

As many of you have mentioned however, it is really easy to spot a scammer. Their spelling / grammar is dodgy, they will never want to meet you, they always insist on money transfers via Western Union / Moneygram etc, and their story is usually very long and unnecessarily elaborate.

The golden rule of staying safe on Gumtree and related sites is transact face to face!.

Not sure what the policy on links here is but we do have scam alerts on the Gumtree blog and you can also check out the stay safe section for detailed safety information when transacting online.

We are also working on a number of measures to reduce the amount of scammers trying to prey on our users