Flat-hunter's transfer trap
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Every year thousands of people search the classified adverts looking for a place to rent, but Watchdog has received lots of complaints from viewers who've been scammed out of hundreds, even thousands of pounds while looking for a new home.
Lazaros Kesoglou came to the UK from Greece three weeks ago. He thought he'd secured a rented room in a shared flat in London's Holborn from a woman called Emily Brown. As soon as he arrived in the UK he went to the flat. It was only then that Lazaros learned Emily didn't live there and the flat was actually owned by someone else. It wasn't for rent at all and the Emily Brown he thought he was dealing with probably doesn't even exist.
It gets worse. Before he arrived in the UK, Emily had asked Lazaros to prove he had the funds to pay for the flat. To do this, she asked him to use Western Union to transfer the first month's rent and the deposit to someone he knew - even to himself if he wanted. All Emily wanted to see was the receipt for the transfer which would show Lazaros did actually have enough money. So Lazoros transferred £660 to himself and sent Emily the receipt as she requested. When Lazaros discovered that his flat wasn't for rent, and that Emily Brown didn't exist, he went back to Western Union to retrieve his £660. But it had gone. Someone had already withdrawn the money.
Western Union is the biggest money transfer company in the UK and therefore most of our case studies have used Western Union to transfer money.
Nineteen-year-old Alexandra Sheppard saw a flat on the internet site Gumtree. She too was asked for proof of funds and sent £1,350 to her sister via Western Union. When they went to retrieve the money four days later it had gone.
Andrea Crookes and her daughter Nicola Mason were taken in too, after Nicola got a new job in London. When Nicola arrived at the flat she thought she'd rented in Islington, there was no one to meet her. She asked at the shop downstairs but they were sure that somebody else lived there.
As usual, Nicola had been asked for proof she'd be able to pay the rent. So her mum had transferred £1,100 to her via Western Union. When she went to get it back, that money had already been collected.
So how is the scam working?
It's thought scammers use the details on the receipt sent to them to create a fake ID in order to pick up the money. The scammers' email addresses were traced back to Nigeria so they may even be receiving the money from one of the 320,000 Western Union branches around the world and not even from the UK.
Tom Craig is a counter fraud expert. He's not surprised that the scammers have taken advantage of Western Union as the scammers can't be traced: "Basically it's moving cash. You can't really identify the end receiver. Although you should but you can't. It's just like giving cash away."
Western Union told Watchdog that it's important that customers "observe the clear guidance and don't share private information such as transaction numbers or copies of the documentation related to a person to person money transfer with any other party".
Western Union stresses that although it does, with police, investigate all reported cases of fraud, it can't refund any money that's been stolen. It's confident it has a "robust fraud prevention programme" in place, but points out that consumers "are and always will be the first and best line of defence against consumer fraud, especially when it comes to protecting and safeguarding their personal data and identity information".
When we contacted Gumtree about the scam it told us that it's an "industry-wide problem that affects a small number of our users". It says that "Gumtree is meant for connecting local people to then trade face-to-face" and that it has "boosted the prominence of our safety messages in the rentals section". Gumtree told us that it has "systems in place to prevent known fraudsters from using the site and also to identify potentially fraudulent activity".
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I was moving to a part of the country that i didn't know well recently, and used sites like those mentioned in your program to look for places to rent.
In my case, i placed and advertisement of my own and i got a reasonable response - mostly I have to say from genuine people and only a handful from blatant scammers (the grammar usually gives it away).
One correspondent still stands out though - they were slightly more eloquent and professional in their approach than the usual scammer - and seemed genuine.
that was until i asked for photos to see and for more info, etc... the photos they sent were wildly varying taste room to room - if those rooms were in the same building I'd be amazed; they even had a staircase in something that was supposedly a one floor flat!
The clincher though was surely the claim that the flat was situated in walking distance of the 'tube station'!
For interests sake, I can confirm that Dumfries (little town in Scotland!) doesn't have a tube!
If things don't add up then there is probably something wrong with it - like you suggested, use common sense - all genuine landlords will let you view a flat first before commiting to rent/deposit - and if you get an email from anyone along the line of [Personal details removed by Moderator] its one of the scammers!
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Thank you for highlighting the risks of using Western Union for proof of available funds.
I am in the process of moving and i was asked to prove that I have the funds available by sending a copy of the receipt, this i was going to do on Friday.
After watching your programme I have emailed the person back and said that i am unwilling to transfer the money, and either she meets me at her property or i will be looking elsewhere for a property, the contact was made through gumtree. Thank You again for highlighting the risks..
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When sending money, Western Union demands:
Test question required
Enter a question and answer that only the receiver will know. It will be used to verify the receiver's identity.
The mechanism is there to prevent fraud - why do Western Union not invoke their OWN security. they must take part blame
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I was also using Gumtree earlier this year looking for a flat nearer to work. Although the pictures of the place very impressive I did think it was out of my range until I asked what the rent was. I asked for a viewing but was asked to pay a deposit before even seeing the place. I said I would only pay upon seeing the place first and told the person that I was pulling out. I then got an e mail saying that they I should more money than what was said before via Western Union before seeing the place and send them a copy of the receipt. I didn't answer back this e mail because I thought there was something very wrong with not being able to see the flat first. I e mailed on the last e mail I was sent to a few friends to make sure I wasn't over reacting and decided not to answer back. Seeing Watchdog tonight I should have e mailed Gumtree to see about getting this person removed so that no one else fell victim to this.
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I work for a Western Union agent and have seen many people scammed by this.
It is very sad but it does state on the form that the information should not be shared with a third party.
Nor should any agent really accept a transfer made by a person to themselves, straight away this should cause alarm bells to ring.
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it is not just flats being used for this, they also do these in the pet section. they will advertise and animal for "adoption" or "rehoming" often described as their "babies" and they will require money for the animal to be delivered. sometimes via western union
the ads are obvious as to which ones are scams, but some people still get sucked in.
the numbers are always premium rate numbers
i do infact have an address for these people, and names!!! they are in Cameroon, and i am sure it is the same people doing these as the housing ones.
i know someone who is in talks with PMs and police. but they wont get off their backsides and do anything.
these people have been known to give death threats as they did to my friend. and i have ALOT of abusive emails for them
me and my husband will sit for hours each day reporting the ads as scams
it is infact not true that gumtree can do anything because they can, they can block the ip address of where these ads are coming from
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Press release following BBC Watchdog program of 27-10-08.
Gumtree 4x4 Ltd, a small independent garage specialising in Land Rovers and MOT testing based at Ditchling Common in Mid-Sussex, would like to make it completely clear that it has no connection with the website gumtree.com which was mentioned as being the starting point for an accommodation related scam on the BBC Watchdog program last night.
John Bowden, the founder and managing director of Gumtree 4x4, said that they have been suffering from an almost daily barrage of phone calls and e-mails from unhappy, irate and confused customers of gumtree.com and also from the police caused by the fact that there is no helpdesk telephone number available for the website and directory enquiries defaults to Gumtree 4x4 as the nearest similar entry.
John has managed to contact gumtree.com and has been assured via e-mail that they have “improved” their website design and performance to make it easier for them to be contacted but this has done nothing to reduce the confusion and gumtree.com now ignore his e-mails.
“We have been in business since 1981” says John, “and it is very frustrating to find that our name is associated with a website that seems uninterested in helping customers [Personal details removed by Moderator]
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further to previous, this hopital parking should be listed under SCAMS as all directives by this goverment how much more will people take!!!!!
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I too was nearly scammed by these con artists. I put an ad in my local gumtree (in Devon) because I needed a place to rent. Within 3 hours, I had offers coming into my email account of flats and houses to rent in my local area. At first, I thought it was great. However, please be aware that the english in these emails is not too hot, and things are a little amiss. Such as, one emailer said there were lovely sofas for my 'comfy time', and that it's so nice, they may come round for a coffee !! Apart from chuckling, I sort of knew that this was a scam. Especially when I saw the money transfer details.
It's obvious that some of these scammers are astute, and some are not. I feel so sorry and angry for the people who have been duped, as I was also desperate for somewhere to live at the time. How cruel and heartless.
Didn't Western Union be involved in another scam regarding internet auctions some time ago.? I'm not knocking them, but surely, they could give out warnings to such cases ?
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It was stated that Western Union requires a secret question to be answered to transfer funds. This depends on where you draw funds. We transfer to China, where only the citizen's ID card and the number of the transaction are required. Don't give anyone access to the transaction ID (unless it's your recipient of course..).
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I had a similar experience with Gumtree.
In my case, after a lot of fruitless searching, I advertised for a flat in London. Within an hour or so, I had 5 responses all offering their properties to me.
My experience with one of them really put me off using Gumtree. A 'landlord' sent me a very detailed description of his property which didn't seem to match the photos he sent me - not only that, but I'd seen the same photos elsewhere on the web being used to advertise properties with other addresses.
The man then offered to let me view the property provided I transferred £1000 to him via Western Union. He claimed that it was because previous potential tenants had wasted his time (he said he lived in Cambridge and had to travel down every time a viewing was arranged) so he wanted to make sure I was seriously looking for a place to rent.
He even sent me a scan of his 'passport' to reassure me that he wasn't a scam artist. At that point, I grew suspicious because he was almost too trusting. So I Googled the property and found that the location was a warehouse in what seemed to be some sort of industrial park.
I tried to decline his offer in the nicest way possible, saying that I didn't believe I should send money for the right to view a property as estate agents didn't follow that practice. He responded with the "I just want to make sure I don't waste my time coming to London" claim, and persistently emailed me back.
At that point, I told him it was my understanding that potential tenants paid a deposit and up to 6-weeks rent upon signing the tenancy agreement, and I was unwilling to transfer him £1000 for no guarantees whatsoever. If he persisted in contacting me, I would lodge a complaint of harrassment against him. He never emailed me again.
I wrote to Gumtree and they were great, taking down his advert and also banning his email address...small measures, I know, but at least they did something? But it's put me off Gumtree because two other people who responded to my advert, also asked me to send them money via Western Union. And this time, they didn't even bother with the routine of reassuring me, they just asked for the money upfront!
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