UK Property Rental Internet Scam.
Prospective tenants are being conned out of thousands of pounds in an elaborate internet scam, a BBC London investigation has found.
Fraudsters pose as landlords and advertise exclusive properties at low rents on advertising websites such as Gumtree and Craigslist. They then claim that they are out of the country and need to see proof that the prospective tenants can afford the rent before they show them the flat. They ask the potential tenant to transfer a payment to a trusted friend or relative through a money transfer agency such as Western Union or Moneygram as proof that they have the funds. The fraudster requests a photocopy of the transaction as proof but than “poses” as the friend or relative and makes off with all of the money.
Gumtree said it was working with the money transfer agency Western Union to prevent the fraud but a spokesperson for Western Union said that their service should only be used to send money to family and friends and not to pay for goods or services.
“Don’t give the receipt or details for a money transfer to any person other than the person who is going to pick it up,” she said. The fraudster would have to provide the control number as well as ID to receive the cash. However, if they managed to create fake ID they might slip the net. “Our staff are trained to recognise ID, but they are not the police,” said the spokesperson. Western Union said it could not offer refunds to the people who have been defrauded by it.
Sisters Alexandra, 19, and Zaire Sheppard, 18, from Holloway in north London, have been victims of the scam.
They saw an advert on Gumtree for a two-bedroom apartment in Belgrove Street in Camden advertised for £650 a month, plus a deposit of £700.
They e-mailed the owner, who called himself “Lin Dong”.
He claimed he had had trouble with tenants before and wanted proof the sisters could afford the rent and deposit.
Lin Dong asked Alexandra to send a payment of £1,350 through Western Union, not to him, but to a trusted friend or relative of her choice.
He then requested a scanned copy of the transfer payment receipt so that he could verify that she had the available funds.
Some time afterwards, a fraudster using fake identification, pretending to be Zaire Sheppard, walked into a Western Union office with the scanned receipt and took the money.
Alexendra said: “I was put off my guard because I was not asked to send the money directly to Lin Dong – I sent the money to my sister.”
Similar scams have been reported in various areas of London
BBC London checked the origin of the e-mails and found they were all sent from Lagos, Nigeria.
Trading Standards is worried about the increasing number of such online scams, and has warned online listing and money transfer sites to be more vigilant in checking for potential fake listings before they are published.
How to avoid internet scams
There is an epidemic sweeping the world and it’s not Swine Flu. Internet scamming is the latest big thing and it seems we have all either been caught out or know of someone who has. The World Wide Web (WWW) truly is a wonderful creation and allows us to communicate on levels never previously possible. If you have ever “googled” or “twittered” than you will realise just how easy it has become to get your message across to millions of people in the blink of an eye.
But the negative side to this is that “scammers” or “fraudsters” can also use the same tools to send their messages out to millions of unsuspecting and vulnerable targets. Before we get carried away here let’s not jump to the conclusion that everyone out there is trying to rip us off. There are plenty of legit businesses providing a great and honest service, but like anything in life we only tend to read about the bad ones. The crooks have always been there, but they are smarter now and the internet has made their ‘job’ a lot easier.
So how can you avoid being a victim of an internet scam? Unless you don’t buy anything online or in fact don’t use the internet at all, and that includes emails, then you will always be at risk but follow a few simple rules and the chances of being “scammed” will reduce dramatically.
- Never click on a website link contained in an email, especially from anyone asking you to verify financial information or passwords.
- Shop on trusted sites displaying site security information and contact details. If there is no address or telephone number keep away.
- Only make payment through approved methods such as Pay Pal or through the sites shopping cart. Don’t use Western Union or Wire Transfer to send money.
- If you don’t know the site, ALWAYS check them out first on Google. If there has been any problem in the past, someone will have posted an article about it.
- Never disclose any personal information until you are sure the site is secure and authentic.
I recently received an email myself from a Chinese electrical wholesaler offering to sell discounted, branded computer equipment and mobile phones. I have no idea where they got my email address from but after a quick bit of digging around, I found several people who had already been “ripped off” and sent money for items they either never received or were fakes. There are loads of websites who publish lists of scam firms, but as quick as one shuts down a new one will emerge. Best advice?…..
