Private landlord.. Dodgy?

BASFORDLAD

Very obvious scam.

theartfullodger

Deffo dodgy...

but , in case it was true... re...

I moved in Milan,Italy because I got a new job. I work in a hospital.

- HMRC non-resident landlord scheme says unless LL has HMRC approval not to, tenant/agent must withhold 22% of rent for the tax man... Ask him if he's got HMRC approval...and if so for a copy of the letter...

see
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/nr_landlords.htm

Cheers!

Lodgedr

georgeLL

Yeah, I also think this is a scam.

Trusted_Friend

Personally, I wouldn't touch this with a barge pole, as it reeks of possible/probable fraud.

For similar situations in the future, if you wish to protect yourself and are unsure, don't forget that from 1 November 2009, the Payment Services Directive 2009 law came into force in the UK, which brings regulation/registration for escrow activity under the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
There are now low cost (eg flat-fee £3) FSA registered automated escrow services available in the UK that you can use to protect yourself from fraudsters (fraudsters won't be interested in dealing with a legitimate escrow service).

From 1 November 2009, all UK escrow services need to be registered with the FSA.
Fortunately the FSA provide an online register of all such services at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/psdFirmSearchForm.do (try searching there for 'escrow' for example).
If a firm is not registered on the FSA website, then it is not allowed to trade, and should not be used. If a firm is registered, then it has been checked out as' Fit & Proper' (by the FSA, and/or HMRC ) and is genuine and should be safe, and also protected by UK law.

Beware, There are many, many professional looking UK based escrow sites which are fraudulent (even having UK addresses, phone numbers and fake FSA numbers). They look genuine in every way, but are just waiting to steal your money. Always, always check the FSA online register.

Triker

It is a scam, I said so backed with evidence a number of posts ago. I'll highlight some key words.....:rolleyes:

Pork89

Hey guys, thanks for all the new posts - some interesting comments but I think we've all come to the conclusion that this is without doubt a scam

For anyone who's interested, I just recieved an email back from "Nicola Brown". Didn't answer ANY of my original questions and sent what is obviously a copy+paste job.

Hi,
I work in a hospital and is very hard for me to come in UK. I can't take the risk to leave my new job for days and when I arrive in UK to see that I come for nothing. I want to be 100% sure that when I will meet you, we do the rent papers then i can come back in Italy.
So i can be sure of that look how we can do:
You make the payment from your name and address to your best friend name and address or reverse (from your friend name or a member from your family onto your name) in UK using Western Union for 3 months rent that means £1380 and send me the scanned receipt. As soon as I see the scanned receipt that you have made the payment, I will come in UK and you will see the flat and rent it. After that, we will go together at the Western Union office and you will take the money back and pay me.So all you have to do is to find a Western Union office and wire £1380 from your name to your friend name or reverse and send the scanned receipt.I am asking you this to be sure that I do not come in UK for nothing. I hope you understand.
P.S : As I told you,I have a lot of customers interested to rent the apartment. I will reserve the apartment to the first one that provides me the scanned paper from Western Union. As soon as I have the confirmation from Western Union that the money are available on his name I stop the transactions with all the other customers!
In case that you don`t know how to use Western Union, all you have to do is to go at the nearest Western Union office in your city and you talk with an agent to send some money to a friend. When you will make the transfer you will have to pay a small fee at Western Union which is around 40-50 £ that I will deduct it from the total rent. The money will stay in the Western Union system till we will sign the rent papers and both we will go to a Western Union office and you will pick up the money and pay me.
If you accept my conditions I wait your e-mail. I don't want you to feel offended if i'll not answer you in case of a negative answer,because I don't see the reason why we should continue to write eachother,since I will not accept any other way to close the deal.

Respectfully!
Nicola.

It makes me wonder how this type of scam works though.. She wants me to wire the money to MY friend, and then show her the reciept? I'm assuming she/he intends to duplicate the reciept and use it to claim back the original sum that I transferred or something along those lines..

I've reported the ad to gumtree, and will give the legit estate agents a call a little later. Not sure who else to report this to!

Thanks again guys

rosepink1984

This happened to me before as Triker has posted - Once you have sent the money to a friend, they can intercept the payment to your friend as the receipt has all the details they need. You wouldn't see the money again.

I was told by a policeman to report it via the non-emergency number to my local police, which I did and they took down all the info. They said there was nothing they could do, as I hadn't actually lost any money but I guess it's helpful for them to know that con men are in the area and trying to rip people off.


Well done on reporting it to Gumtree - that's important so that others won't be duped by the ad.

Sorry for the disappointment you must be feeling, we were disappointed but had wondered from the start if it was too good to be true, and sure enough it was!

Pork89

As another update, looking at the original email address header the "X-Originating-IP" (which usually indicates the IP address of the sender) is marked as "86.122.80.19" which is a Romanian IP.

The IP address is alive, responds to pings, and hosts a few services; one of which being a website. http://86.122.80.19

The website seems to sell Cable TV and Internet connections... Strange.

There is also mention of a DC++ server and a CS1.6 server you can connect to.

DC++ is a network of "chat rooms" which are known as hubs. It's a bit of an underground network on the internet and people use it to share copyrighted material and usually other illegal wares.

CS1.6 is more commonly known simply as Counter-Strike, which is an online FPS game.

Makes me think "Nicola Brown" is some spotty Romanian teenager after the money of unsuspecting English individuals!

sequence

How could you possibly think this is NOT a scam

ChrisCobra

Gumtree bad , brains good.