Rental Scam? Please help.

jonnygee2

I don't think you have been scammed. It sounds more like he's just a bit !!!!less.


If you are that worried, go and knock on the door. If it's someone else living there or it's empty, you've got a problem. Most likely, the guy just has the money and the move in date and is now in an 'that's all sorted' frame of mind.

If it does turn out to be a scam, you would report it to your bank and then on action fraud https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/ . Your bank is unlikely to get the money back, though.

jonnygee2

The police will probably say it is a civil matter and you need to sue him in the courts. You would need considerable evidence, and persuasive skills, to convince them it is a criminal matter eg fraud)

Just to clarify this, if it's actually a scam - e.g. you get nothing for the money, then your bank would report it to the receiving bank. The receiving bank would then confirm if the money was in the receiving account or not, and contact the National Crime Agency to report it to them. The actual police will take the report on action-fraud but are unlikely to do much more, as they don't have the power.

However professional fraudsters will generally have moved the money around several accounts before moving it out of the UK, using fake IDs and addresses, so the money will most likely have gone in minutes and the reports come to nothing. Also, because of anti-fraud rules, neither bank would be able to tell you anything about this process until several weeks later when you 'may' get some money back.

But this is only IF it's fraud, which it probably isn't.

financegeek

Try to relax a bit, although it could be a scam, the fact he's sent you a copy of his passport and has been responding to your messages indicates he is a real person.

you won't know for sure until Sunday, but nothing you can do between now and then will make any difference to what will happen. do you have a back up option for somewhere to stay if things don't work out?

akaleon

So it turns out I was scammed. I got a call from spareroom saying they’d noticed suspicious activity on his account. Essentially he’d tried to open a new advert with the same details previously used. He also blocked me on WhatsApp the day of move in (by which point I already knew). I’ve contacted action fraud and my bank, but I’m not holding my breathe.

ethranes

unlucky dude, lesson learned

Marvel1

akaleon wrote: »

So it turns out I was scammed. I got a call from spareroom saying they’d noticed suspicious activity on his account. Essentially he’d tried to open a new advert with the same details previously used. He also blocked me on WhatsApp the day of move in (by which point I already knew). I’ve contacted action fraud and my bank, but I’m not holding my breathe.

proves there is nothing wrong with over-reacting and demanding :mad:

Since you have his name and photo - passport, can you find them on Facebook?

akaleon

Yeah, exactly. As for his details, I’ve passed everything on to the relevant people. I can’t find him on Facebook, however it looks as though he had a Twitter at some point. I just hope I’ve provided action fraud with enough evidence/information for them to open a case. The fact I have his passport, photo, phone number and bank account details should hopefully warren at least a look into it.

Honeylife

akaleon wrote: »

I wasn't making demands. The rules on spareroom stipulate that you MUST provide a utility bill. I wouldn't expect you to know that though.

.

Resident Landlord here.

I have never ever provided a Utility bill not heard this before and just took two new students last week none asked for my Utility Bill.

Resident Landlords do not have to put Deposit in a DPS.

akaleon

I’m not saying it is a legal requirement or that most landlords do. It’s just something spareroom tell prospective tenants to do in order to ensure the person listing the property actually lives there. This was an Airbnb scam in which they had rented the apartment for the weekend and then posted it on spareroom pretending to actually live there. They showed people around with the promise of a room that didn’t exist. Apparently I am one of 7 people scammed by the same person in the same weekend, for the same room.

Anyway, regardless. I should close this thread now. My gut feeling was right; I was scammed of £900. Checking a utility bill probably wouldn’t have helped much considering he’d made a fake tenancy agreement.

Slinky

Sorry to hear this OP, some people are just complete !!!!!! aren't they.