Deaf Landlord From Vienna
We’ve just got our hands on a classic scam E-mail from the “landlord” of the flat that sounded too good to be true. Apparently our tenant (who has been browsing through listing every day during this past month) stumbled on a £250 Sloane Square flat on Gumtree…
Here’s the first reply from the landlord:
Hello,
Thank you for your e-mail.
My name is Louisa and i am from Wien,Austria.
I had an aunt in London and after her death she left me her apartment
from London a few years ago.
Till last mounth the apartment was rent by some stutdents from Germany
and now they left and the apartment is available again for rent.
The price i want is 250 UK pounds per week and i do not work with any
agency because they have big comision.
About the advance it is the price for the first 2 mounths.
If you want to rent it and you have the money i could came to London to
meet you in a few days but you must be sure you want to rent it.
I will wait for your
e-mail.
After asking for some additional photos/information, the second E-mail arrives:
Hello,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Flat location is Sloane Court East, Sloane Square and it is fully
furnished and bills are included.
As i said i live in Wien and i must came to UK to meet you and see the
flat and i want the rent for the first 2
mounths in advance,that is 2000GBP.
If you have the money i could came in the next few days to make the
contract with you but first you must be sure
because 2 weeks ago a person from UK told me he is really interested and
he asked me to go to London to meet him
and sign the rent contract and when i arrived there no person showed up to
rent my place and i lost time and money
for nothing.
Please note that i am a deaf person and i could comunicate only via
e-mail and i can not afford to came again to
London for nothing,i do not want anybody to make again a stupid joke.
If you want i will send you more pictures of the flat to make your
decision but i want you to be sure you want to
rent it and i must be sure you have the money and you are a serious
person.
Also,i could came to meet only in the weekend,i could buy a fly ticket
for a friday night and i will be in London
to meet you on a Saturday.
I will wait for your answer,have a nice day!
***
The landlord is obviously working towards getting a payment before showing the apartment. Which doesn’t exist…
You might know this is a scam but hundreds of people are fooled every year, especially those who are new to London, don’t know the language so well, and need a place fast.
We’ll report the ad to Gumtree, who has warned users – If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
Clown photographed by =alexander=
[...] first ad was gone the next day and we’ll not bother to look for this [...]
Hi There,
Thank you for the post!
I found the same ad on MOVEFLAT.com and obviously I have contacted her. She insisted about honestly and guarantee and I told her I wanted mine. So she keeped replying to me suggesting to do western union transfer to myself so she could have see that I had 2000 pounds. I didn’t accept it because I don’t need to show anything to people and no landlord asked me for a credit check before…anyway…She keeped writing me and I told her to come to London and after she was going to give the key, I was going to make a bank transfer to her name…
Obviously she will never reply. I thought it was a scam since the beginning for the rent price…1000 pounds in Chelsea…IMPOSSIBLE…but you know, sometimes you prefer to think that it is a good deal…but money is money and with a bank transfer you will always have a prove and a real name to trace…
I would sue this person, just If I had the time and the money to spend.
Thank you and I hope this could be usefull.
Marco
Thanks for the confirmation Marco!
[...] is more serious than we can imagine.We have talked about our own experience with those scams in HERE, HERE and [...]
For a completely different apartment (this one in Mayfair), listed on gumtree, craigslist and houseladder:
————–
from ulrikatova@yahoo.com
Hello,
My name is Ulrika Tova and I am from Sweden and the flat is still available for rent. I had an aunt in UK and after her death she left me her apartment from UK a few years ago.
The flat was redecorated last year and the flat is looking very nice and clean. The property has a fully furnished kitchen,clean and well tidy sitting rooms,laundry room,and fully furnished with home utilities like: electric shower, Lounge,Vacuum Cleaner,Toaster, Oven andmicrowave, dryer, iron, washing maching ascooker , refridgetor , dishwahser, powershower, heater, cable ready,tv set and dvd player,internet conection, equiped kitchen and everything a house need. I m interrested in finding someone clean who can take care of this house more then getting money from renting it if you know what I mean.
Till last mounth the apartment was rent by some students from Germany and now they left and the apartment is available again for rent. The price I want is 220 UK pounds per week and the advance it is the price for the first 2 mounths(1 advance and 1 guarantee).
If you have the money I could come in the next few days to show you the apartment and maybe sign the rental agreementif you like it but first I have to be sure you are honest you really do need a place to live because two weeks ago a person from London told me he is really interested and he asked me to go to London to meet him and sign the rental agreement and when I arrived there no person showed up to rent my place and I lost time and money for nothing.
I will wait for your e-mail,
Ulrika Tova
————
Being Swedish myself, didn’t fall for this one. The account registered on houseladder was “Tom James”.