Tenants offered advice on how to spot a rental scam.

It appears that the ‘Send me a deposit for my fake property’ scam is attempting to reach beyond classified websites (such as Gumtree).

Tenants are therefore offered advice on how to spot a rental scam and avoid losing considerable amounts of money.

During a routine review of a property being uploaded to lettingaproperty.com, the online letting agent’s website, the property consultant dealing with the advert immediately raised his concerns about the authenticity of the advertisement.

It transpired after thorough internal investigations that the property was indeed ‘fake’ and was removed from the site before being published, thankfully, preventing the unscrupulous landlord from duping unsuspecting tenants into handing over their money for a property that does not exist.

What clues prompted lettingaproperty.com to investigate this particular property and what are they advising tenants to look out for?

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

The property in question was a 1 bedroom fully furnished apartment in a “striking new development near Canary Wharf”.  It benefited from all mod cons, wood flooring and is close to all major transport links.  The red flag was that the property was being advertised at £100 per week!  The consultant has a good knowledge of the London rental market and knew this was far too good to be true.

Communication is inconsistent

The scammer used a plain English email address (gowlerrpaul55@gmail.com) however, when communicating with this person, the language and grammar used was similar to someone who’s second or even third language was English.  The imposter also gave a contact telephone number which when called, always diverted to a ‘Lebara’ voice mail.  Lebara is a telecoms service used for calling international numbers.

Landlord lives abroad

During the investigation, lettingaproperty.com sent a spoof enquiry from a prospective ‘tenant’ and the fraudster responded saying that he lives in Ireland – this is the start of the scam and will be the explanation as to why he is shortly going to request that you transfer funds (normally by Western union) to yourself or a friend as proof of affordability.

Money requested by telegraphic transfer (usually through Western Union)

As the landlord supposedly lives abroad, he/she would request that you transfer the equivalent to ones months’ rent or a deposit to a friend to prove that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a “time waster”.

They will then request that you send them a copy of the telegraphic transfer receipt which they will attempt to use to withdraw the funds from Western Union.

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send money in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you.

Become a private investigator and trust your instincts

The internet is a source of valuable information and can be used to your advantage when you are unsure about the other party.  The property consultant typed the fraudster’s email address into his favourite search engine and to his surprise, that exact email address has been registered as a ‘scammer’ on another property forum.  Proof that he was right in trusting his instincts.

Tenant referencing has become standard procedure whereby the landlord may request personal information about the tenant as well as carrying out a credit check.

Likewise, lettingaproperty.com are advising tenants to follow a similar course of action when dealing with private landlords.

You could request that the landlord provides you with the following:

• Proof of ownership – this could be in the form of a mortgage statement
• Proof of ID – A copy of the landlord’s passport or drivers licence and a utility bill dated within the last 3 months.
• Under Section 48, Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 – the landlord is required to supply the tenant with an address to serve notices on – this has to be in the UK.

Jonathan Daines, Co-Founder of lettingaproperty.com comments:

“In the 2 year history of our online letting service, we have advertised thousands of properties and we have never had the misfortune of dealing with a potential scammer.

I am delighted that our vigilant approach to adhering to the Property Misdescriptions Act has prevented this scam from surfacing and I urge similar websites to pay close attention to their property stock and ensure that measures are in place to stamp out this type of activity”

In summary, lettingaproperty.com strongly advises tenants to be diligent when dealing with a landlord directly.  Do your own checks and never send anyone any money until you are completely satisfied with the legitimacy of the agreement.