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Beware rental scam

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  • maninthestreet
    maninthestreet Posts: 16,127 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture
    How did you send the money to the fake landlord?
    "You were only supposed to blow the bl**dy doors off!!"
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    G_M wrote: »
    Just to add to Cakeguts list, there have been examples of tenants who are about to leave a property advertising it on gumtree, showing applicants around while posing as the landlord, taking a deposit/rent, and then leaving/vanishing.

    They would pass all of Cakegut's critera above!

    Have seen this sort of thing on that show about tennants and landoors, something like nightmare tennants and landlords on 5.
  • chucknorris
    chucknorris Posts: 10,793 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    AnotherJoe wrote: »
    I would add point 8. If its on Gumtree, its a scam.

    We advertise our properties on Gumtree (as well as on both Rightmove and Zoopla).
    Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one birdThe only time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he had made a mistakeChuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".I've started running again, after several injuries had forced me to stop
  • happy_2008
    happy_2008 Posts: 216 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Surely the point at which the landlord said "deposit before viewing" would ring alarm bells? After all why would you randomly give a stranger money?
  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    chucknorris wrote: »
    We advertise our properties on Gumtree (as well as on both Rightmove and Zoopla).

    So a few diamonds In a morass of of s!!t.

    Frequenting quite a few forums I see this sort of thing often, scams on Gumtree and Craigslist seem to be so prevalent that a non scam appears to be the exception rather than the rule.
  • chucknorris
    chucknorris Posts: 10,793 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    AnotherJoe wrote: »
    So a few diamonds In a morass of of s!!t.

    Frequenting quite a few forums I see this sort of thing often, scams on Gumtree and Craigslist seem to be so prevalent that a non scam appears to be the exception rather than the rule.

    I'm fully aware of Gumtree's reputation demise, it used to be our main vehicle for letting, now it is just a fallback (although we do get quite a few tenants from Gumtree still). It was just fortunate that we found a way of advertising on rightmove and zoopla (which I don't think was possible about 6-7 years ago).
    Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one birdThe only time Chuck Norris was wrong was when he thought he had made a mistakeChuck Norris puts the "laughter" in "manslaughter".I've started running again, after several injuries had forced me to stop
  • flora48
    flora48 Posts: 644 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Please be aware that this scam is still on going only this weekend a relative has lost £500 to RoseMarie Grant of 688 Sewall Highway, Coventry, West Midlands CV6 7JJ.

    She posted on gumtree needing a flat in Cambridgeshire urgently and was contacted by this person.

    BE WARNED!!!
  • ScorpiondeRooftrouser
    ScorpiondeRooftrouser Posts: 2,851 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    thesaint wrote: »
    I advise people not to send money to strangers they have never met.

    It's astonishing that this needs saying, but it clearly does.
  • Money_maker
    Money_maker Posts: 5,471 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    You'd have thought it would be a good idea to set up a sting seeing as they approach those advertising for properties.
    Please do not quote spam as this enables it to 'live on' once the spam post is removed. ;)

    If you quote me, don't forget the capital 'M'

    Declutterers of the world - unite! :rotfl::rotfl:
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Stranger rings up and explains that if I send him £X000 he'll invest it in a scheme for me guaranteed to earn me 22% every year.

    'Bob' from Nigeria sends me an email asking for help moving £2.2m out of Nigeria and offering me 5% of that if I'll just send him all my bank details for the transfer.

    Nice lady wants to buy my 2nd hand car for twice its value. She can't inspect it as she's currently abroad but she trusts me. She'll transfer me the money, plus transport fee, if I'll pay the transportation fee to blah blah blah

    Frankly it astounds me that any of these scams work - but apparantly there are lot of really[STRIKE] stupid[/STRIKE] gullible people in the world....
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