renting property scam

hoskins

Had an e-mail from someone wanting to rent my apartment who was "sponsered by his company" and was been given £5000 holiday expenses.
His company would send me the cheque and I would send him back the difference! The scary bit is I have given him my name, address and telephone number. Can he do any mischief

igdirect

Yes indeed!

The cheque you receive will look official and above board. However, it will be a forged bank draft. You will be pestered by the original guy to pay him the balance with the assurance that you can rely on a company cheque to clear.

If you pay over the balance before the cheque clears you will lose your money.

A similar scam operates with things like classified ad car sales. The person interested "accidentally" pays you too much money in a bankers draft. He then asks you to pay the balance back in cash urgently assuring you that a bankers draft is as good as cash in the bank. The forged draft eventually bounces but you've paid over a substantial amount of cash to the "buyer".

If you do get a cheque, by all means pay it in but resist all attempts by anyone to have you pay over the balance until you have confirmed clearance and the cleared funds are in your account. Double check with your bank even then.

That said, if it turns out to be kosher then enjoy your windfall!

Regards,

Ian

andy30

Dont withdraw any money against a cheque that is paid in from these people. It will (usually) initially clear but after a month or so, it will be deamed fake and they (your bank) will withdraw the money from your account, leaving you out of pocket!

Kersten

Be very careful with these things even if the money does clear. My advice would be not to do it as overpayments are one of the most common ways for criminals to launder money.

Therefore, if you participate in any scheme like this (knowingly or unknowingly) and it is money laundering YOU ARE COMMITTING AN OFFENCE and the penalties are very steep. This is on top of possibly receiving proceeds of crime for which there are also prison sentences.

Indeed, and not many people are aware of that, if you get to know about a scam like that which you suspect involves criminal activity, you have a duty to report it without tipping off the other party. Not doing so could again mean you are committing an offence.

I don't work for law enforcement ( ) but have had fairly intensive training on this as part of my job.

lee3276

Dont accept the cheque I saw this on WATCH DOG, What happens is they send you a cheque for eg £5000 it clears in your account then you send on the rest on the money then when they get there money they report the cheque as stolen it then bounces LEAVING YOU IN THE RED BIG TIME £5000, Never Accept if they ask to send on the rest on the money

davidcampbell

Kersten wrote:

Therefore, if you participate in any scheme like this (knowingly or unknowingly) and it is money laundering YOU ARE COMMITTING AN OFFENCE and the penalties are very steep. This is on top of possibly receiving proceeds of crime for which there are also prison sentences.
.

not quite. if you unknowingly participate in money laundering you are only commiting an offence if you should reasonably be aware of what is happening.

Smiley_Mum

Please check out the following website. It is a link from the local police station's website. My mum had someone call about booking accommodation for a fortnight but they never showed, they were Canadian. Bit dodgy.

This scam is currently doing the rounds up here so be very cautious.

http://www.hi-ways.org/shownewsitem.asp?n=106116&s=3484337

Melissa22_Mum

Seen this scam on television, they cash the cheque then vuala they disappear with your dosh.............