Rental Scam? Please help.

Honeylife

Yes, I am sorry to hear that you have been scammed. It was a !!!!!! thing they did to you, and I feel for you. Its the busiest time of the year right now with the new student intake so people are competing with each other for a place and its easy to be taken in. I hope you are more successful the next time.

Computer_Beginner

Hi OP,

So you have the actual name, bank details and passport copy of the guy who took your money?
So either this is a false passport (and fraudulent bank account opened with it) or the guy just seems to think he can get away without anyone pursuing him?

Even if the passport is fake, presumably you checked the photo was actually him?
So worst case scenario - the police have a real photo image and a bank to ask questions about who it was they allowed to open an account in his name?
They should also contact the passport office and the mobile phone operator. There will be a paper trail somewhere.

I think with some reasonable effort, the police should be able to trace this guy.
I would keep on pestering them and the bank involved. Don't let them keep your case filed away in their (rather large) 'too much effort' folder..!

Pixie5740

akaleon wrote: »

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.

It's easy to create a tenancy agreement. You can download one for free from the government website and add whatever names and dates you like.

It's a shame that sites such as spareroom don't offer some kind of escrow service to protect both resident landlords and lodgers.

Pixie5740

Computer_Beginner wrote: »

Hi OP,

So you have the actual name, bank details and passport copy of the guy who took your money?
So either this is a false passport (and fraudulent bank account opened with it) or the guy just seems to think he can get away without anyone pursuing him?

Even if the passport is fake, presumably you checked the photo was actually him?
So worst case scenario - the police have a real photo image and a bank to ask questions about who it was they allowed to open an account in his name?
They should also contact the passport office and the mobile phone operator. There will be a paper trail somewhere.

I think with some reasonable effort, the police should be able to trace this guy.
I would keep on pestering them and the bank involved. Don't let them keep your case filed away in their (rather large) 'too much effort' folder..!

How do you know the bank account was fraudulent? When you make a transfer online all that matters is the sort code and account number you can enter whatever account name you like because neither the sending nor receiving bank check that the account name used matches the account name linked to the sort code and account number.

The police are going to do Sweet Fanny Adams.

Computer_Beginner

Pixie5740 wrote: »

How do you know the bank account was fraudulent? When you make a transfer online all that matters is the sort code and account number you can enter whatever account name you like because neither the sending nor receiving bank check that the account name used matches the account name linked to the sort code and account number.
.

Well the bank account that the money was sent to presumably exists.
So that account will belong to someone.
I'm presuming the passport seen by the OP was used to open that account (since the name matched, according to OP).
So either it's a genuine passport - ie that's the man's real name.
or
The passport is fake - ie photo of the man, but a different identity.

But the bank the money was sent to must have an identity for the person who opened the account.

Computer_Beginner

Pixie5740 wrote: »

The police are going to do Sweet Fanny Adams.

Because:

1. It's not a case of (criminal) fraud?
or
2. Because it is fraud, but the police don't care.

I'd say it's more likely option 2.

I've read about cases where it's obvious a crime has been committed and there's plenty of trails to follow, but the police just don't bother.

Other times, the police get very excited and make a big effort.

I'm not a police officer, so I don't know why. But my guess would be some kind of 'priority targets' set by their managers.

Pixie5740

Computer_Beginner wrote: »

Well the bank account that the money was sent to presumably exists.
So that account will belong to someone.
I'm presuming the passport seen by the OP was used to open that account (since the name matched, according to OP).
So either it's a genuine passport - ie that's the man's real name.
or
The passport is fake - ie photo of the man, but a different identity.

But the bank the money was sent to must have an identity for the person who opened the account.

Why are you presuming that the fake passport, assuming it is a fake, was used to open the bank account? The account name might not be anything like the name on the passport. The OP only has the scammer's word on the account name.

The bank account will belong to someone but who that someone is will remain a mystery.

Option 3 - the police are having to do more with less resources.

Computer_Beginner

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Why are you presuming that the fake passport, assuming it is a fake, was used to open the bank account? The account name might not be anything like the name on the passport. The OP only has the scammer's word on the account name.

The bank account will belong to someone but who that someone is will remain a mystery.
.

OP said:

''he sent me a photo of his passport along with his bank details (the name on which matched his passport)''

But I see what you mean - OP said bank ''details''.
I thought he'd said ''bank statement''.

My mistake, sorry.

I was assuming OP had seen original passport and a bank statement. If those names matched, more likely passport had been used to open the account.
But it could well be an account opened by someone else - probably a mule.
Even a paper statement could easily have the name forged anyway.

But there is still a genuine image of the suspect and an existing bank account, so enough for the police to make a start on - should they wish to.

If I was the OP, I would also start chasing up the bank and the passport office myself. Send them the police log number. Name those spoken to. Generally create an issue and see what happens.

Computer_Beginner

Another person I would speak to a bit more is the actual owner of the flat, who dealt with the fraudster via Air B&B.
Check how payment was used, which phone number for contact etc.

Plus see if you can contact the other victims of the scam.

OP could also try uploading the passport photo to Facebook etc and ask anyone who recognises etc.

May come to nothing, but won't take long and costs nothing to try.

akaleon

Hi,

Thank you all for your comments. I just waned to let you know what I have been doing.

I've spoken to Spareroom who have been rather unhelpful in the matter, but this was to be expected. I have also spoken to Action Fraud and have managed to get the other people affected to log all evidence they have within my CRN. Apparently the more people complain the better, however I've been reading online that unless your money is of substantial value there's not really much Action Fraud nor the police will do.

I have however been doing my own research on the scammer. I found two articles online about him, apparently back in 2009 he was arrested and subsequently jailed for stalking his girlfriend. The date of the article and age listed matches his age on the passport, as does his name and the photo used. He has a very peculiar name - so I know it's definitely him, plus I found his twitter account which was opened back in 2012 - again, it was the same name and the photos are definitely him because I have met the guy. Also, I spoke to someone on his twitter who told me that he hasn't spoken to him in a couple of years, but that he still lives in London. I have been around to the property every single day after work to see if someone will answer but up to this point no one has. The sites in which the property are listed do not have contact details and there are never any available dates meaning the property is no longer being advertised by the owner. I am speaking to Spareroom because they did a land registry check and I will get the details of the owner that way.

When I was applying for the property I screenshotted every single message between myself and him, both on Spareroom chat and Whatsapp. He also used actual photos of himself on Spareroom and for his Whatsapp photo. He has blocked me on Whatsapp but hasn't fully blocked me meaning if I wanted to I could call him - the reason I know this is because I withheld my number and rang him. He's still using the phone because it was ringing through.

I've supplied all of this information to the police - I've pretty much done their job for them. They just need to locate the guy.

I've also spoken to a few tabloids who are interested in the story because rental scams are on the climb. Some of which are willing to pay, albeit not the full £925 but at least that's something. I'm obviously going to wait until after the investigation is over (if it ever starts). I'll also be doing a Facebook post soon outlining the entire ordeal and putting pictures up, including his face. Hopefully that gets shared enough that someone from his family or friends spots it.

I've probably missed some things, but yeah I've been doing my best when I'm not working to find this person.