Apartment rental scam suspected - Germany

Hello good people.

Has anyone any experience of renting scams?

I thought i had found a grat plae to stay however the old clasics came out, such as "im not in Berlin at the moment" "i will post you the keys" etc

Not being born yesterday i suggested alternatives such as meeting a relative or friend in Berlin to view the apartment and see they keys work etc etc before handing €900!

This was met with the reply " Sorry...Too complicated"

I think this couldnt be more fishy!

Any good stories anyone?

This stinks walk away from it of send them

you are not getting a cent from me
till I know where you live, see your passport, see the apartment,have the keys,and move in.


so there.. if they start the its complicated crap then cut them off.

Scam!
Nuff said!

Whilst im now pretty certian this is a scam i guess it has mileage in it, if i can fuck off the scammer a bit and waste their time they mihgt be less likely to try it again!
If i can promise i will cough up €€ provided they do some silly tasks for me hahah like 419eater.com

I wouldn't waste any more time with this as it's not worth your time or effort. You know what they're about so now move on.

I'm wondering how did you find these con men? Or how did they find you?

Definitely fuck with the scammer if you can... awesome and entertaining public service.

Im seeking a room on easywg.de, the scammer contacted me and we have had a few emails since.
I clearly say on my ad I am a British police officer looking to move to berlin for a career change so thats what made me think maybe a scammer wouldnt target a bloody bobby.
Basically the emails ave aid she is a 22 year old German lass (Im 20 so she isnt targetting rich old pervy men ) with a house her mother owns in which she lives, she is looking to rent out the other 2 rroms in the house.
A little queston and she said to draw up a contract ect asking for first months deposit up front as well as a security payment of €600 whihc would be refunded on my departure provided everythign was cool with the room i rented.
I hadnt asked to see the room yet when she revealed she was in London with work and would be back in berlin next month.

As I am looking to move on or before 01.06.08 she suggested we do all work via post here in Uk and i transfer the cash to her when she would post me the keys.

Fuck that for a game of soldiers i thought, and suggested

I would meet her in London and sort out the contract and get to see eachother to be sure that our ID's that we were trading copies of were actually us, bare in mnd i live in the north midlands so London is a good 2-3 hour trip for me.
I would sign the contracts and agree to rent the room based on the pictures ive seen of it (again taking a leap of faith)
I would fly to Berlin and met with a friend/relative of hers who would show me the room, that it actuall exists and the keys work ect, at which point i would pay up the €600 dpeosit and the first months rent.
When she came back to Berlin she could collect this from her friend/relative.

I think this arrangement is best for everyone however it was simply met with

"sorry...too complicated"

I've replied asking if she means my email was too complicated in which case i would translte it into German or if the idea was too complicated and see what she suggests.

Begin ideas to fuck with them please goood people.

If you're not happy with the arrangements then look for somewhere else, but I don't think you are doing yourself or your country any favours by wasting this person's time any further. There is a small possibility that this is a scam, but nothing you've written sounds particularly out of the ordinary. If she thinks she can find someone else for the room, then your idea would indeed be unnecessarily complicated.

You have to remember that Germans are a lot more honest than the British, and so the idea of transferring €900 to someone you haven't met isn't so unusual. From a British perspective, I understand your wariness. But she's only young. And she's also taking a risk here, remember, having never actually met you. Just do the decent thing and tell her you've found somewhere else, rather than playing games with her and costing her lost rent.

STB, from the wisdom in your comment I see you're overdosing on awesomeness today. I'm just not getting the OP wanting to play games with this. It's probably the OP young age as for what's posted here doesn't seem like very mature behavior. The irony in his post is he refers to the forum members as "good people".

That's assuming "she" is actually a 22 year old German girl and not some 30 year old British male criminal type.
I have not started messing with them yet at all and have been polite and asked what they would suggest as an alternate plan of action.
Whilst you say i wouldnt be doing myself or my country any fans by needlessly agrevating them (if i can be sure they are pulling a scam) i would disagree by saying the time and efforts they waste on myself are not spent on conning someone more gullable out of their honest cash.
Im not closed to the fact that it may be a genuine offer and would be happier than anyone if that were the case Perhaps being in the job has made me too suspicious

So instead of just walking away you rather "con" them by playing sophomoric games to "teach them a lesson"? You say you're a police officer but what you're proposing to do and trying to elicit support for your games from forum members does not appear to be dignified behavior of someone who should have the integrity of a police officer who is entrusted with upholding the law.

Ok, suspect someone of wrong doing then leave them too it.

I shall cease forthwith all email contact with said rental offer, accept my appologies.

Yep, it's like this. You have a very weak suspicion this is a scam and it may not be. I think this is more about you wanting to create some drama and bullshit in your life at these German's expense.

So as long as you weren't the person who they scammed just walk away. I'm just not getting why you feel compelled to "teach them a lesson" to try to save the next person from being scammed. If it's a scam the next person will be suspicious too and figure it out, just like you. It doesn't sound like this scheme is too difficult to see through if it is a scam.

Or if you're that concerned report it to the police. You say you're a police officer (which I'm doubting) you should know just how to make a police report.

A few short hours ago you seemed very sure...

So i have a weak suspicion that its a scam.

But

If its a scam it doesnt sound like this scheme is difficult to see through.

I could not be more distressed that you dont believe my employment, provided the police authority continue to pay my wages though i wont loose much sleep over it.
I had better report it to the police prety quick, saying "I think this person on the internet whose name, address and other particulars i dont know might be involved in a small time internet fraud" With any luck there could be some overtime in it.
Looking at the first 2 replies recieved in this thread i think i've gleaned the corroboration i was looking for and can consider this topic finished.
I apologise for those who have not taken my comments with a pinch of salt.
Dan

I wasn't sure then and I'm still not sure what this is all about. This is one forum member's perspective and there is another side to this story. One thing I'm sure of is this is a waste of time for him to try to pursue retribution. I said to him he knows what this is about. I certainly don't. All I know is what I'm reading here. I called them con men earlier. But I don't know what they are. Regardless if they are con men or not the OP wanting to pursue retribution is still not ok in my opinion.

I've a flat in Berlin and have considered renting it out before I move into it but I've decided it's too awkward. The 'scammer' may be genuine and may be an absentee like myself...but I wouldn't part with 900 quid on the promise of a posted set of keys either!

Thats where I stopped reading..

That's not enough. You need to let her know that you're not going to take the room.

Why? Did you have too many personal experiences with them that now you have an aversion?

spiderpig is from the north of England and we all have an aversion to the police up North.Deffo a scam here.Do not part with the money and try and report the person involved to the website you were on.

Pay no mind to Lavender Rain, she's trying to earn her gold stars in the afterlife by piously telling everyone else what to do with their karma.

Phwar thanks for that, this was my first real post on here and i thought i had wandered into a humourless and hostile place!
If i loved the police so much why would i be moving to Germany? A Ryanair commute after 2nd set of nights? I think not .

I know I'd be a bit concerned if you were the one taking my report, what with all the horrifying spelling mistakes in your postings!

Like the others said, report this person to your superiors if you're suspicious and move on. Use the energy you'd be wasting on 'playing games' with this person, into properly finding a flat!

Islandchick, are you just trying to secure your place in the penthouse in the afterlife too?

Fribble and DC, my comments were not about my karma or afterlife. My comments were about right here, right now treating people like you would like to be treated and not playing games at someone else's expense. There's nothing humorful about trying to make someone else's life miserable by "trying to teach them a lesson". I don't quite know what it is with people who think it's funny to try to intentionally cause people pain or those who laugh at someone's painful situation.

DC, if you were referring to my comments to you as "hostile", I hope you will take a second to stop and think about how what you're proposing to do with this person can be regarded as pugnacious.

Hey, my place is in heaven is already secured, after the hell I went through this past few days! Plus I used to be lead singer in my church choir. God already knows my name...and for good things!

Nah, I agree with you Lavender. Why waste the time and energy? As of now, he hasn't lost anything, so why waste all the time and energy posting on a forum and trying to come up with ways to fuck with someone. If he had actually already lost the €900, I would have more sympathy. But what's the point, since he only thinks it's a scam?

As for him being a policeman? Maybe they're so desperate that standards have dropped immensely. But I thought you had to have at least an O'level in English!

Hopefully the police and CPS have higher standards than Mik Dickinson when passing judgement. Ninety-percent likelihood this is not a scam.

Not a scam? Come on, transfer a certain amount before you get the keys,no personal meeting with the person.What is complicated about someone going to the costs of travelling to see something and meet up with a relative.No costs to the owner and that is too complicated.Goes against all the standard practise that i have had in the 26 years of living in this fine country.Here are the NORMAL STEPS.
1. you reply to the ad
2.You then meet up with the landlord or landlandy to view the place.
3.Then you wait for a reply from said people in point 2
4.When you have secured the accommodation then you sign rent contracts and get bank info off them for the transfer of the Kaution.
5.When property owners get the Kaution they then give you the keys.
No mention of this at all.By the way i have very high standards, speak the language like a local and had a lot of experience in this country.And as to the other posting of Germans being more honest than ex pats why does 99% of expats shy at the thought of handing property back knowing they are going to lose some or all of their Kaution?Just don't get me going eh?

So you keep saying. Repeatedly. Perhaps soon we shall all get the lesson you are trying to teach us.

Aside to Keydeck: Hangover. Give me time.

@MD: I'm very happy to hear about all your years of experience of renting property, but there are three points you're overlooking:

1. The OP isn't renting a property; he's renting a room in a WG. Things work very different in student WGs compared to the world of Maklers and renting. How much experience do you have of renting rooms in student WGs?
2. The "scammer" is a 22-year-old who probably has no previous experience at renting out property. It probably hasn't even occurred to her that her preferred method of doing things is causing distrust.
3. The OP's English-language skills are shockingly poor, so it's difficult to fully understand the whole story. I think we need a lot more information presented a lot more clearly before we can accuse the girl of being a scammer.

in my opinion there is every likelihood this could be a scam. who's to say the person behind it all is even a 22 year old living with her family renting out rooms.

just walk away in my opinion and put it down to experience.

I agree it "could" be a scam. But it would be a pretty daft scammer to tell a potential victim from England that the reason she's not in Berlin is that she's in... England!

for potential tenants in Berlin, London isn't such a bad choice of place for a rental scammer to say they are!

as he has never met this person offering the residence there is just no way to be sure if they are genuine or not, so best to leave be I'd say.

Words of wisdom i reckon there Moonboot

Similar words to the ones I wrote three days ago. It's the rash cries of "scam!" accompanied by almost no evidence that I'm objecting to.

Haha i got a little carried away in my first posts and paid scant regard to the clarity of the written word (is that a better grasp of the language )
Im supprised anyone even bothered to reply given the shocking state of my first posts.
I've had no further emails from the supposed landlady, I have had PM's from other members who have been approached by scammers in exactly the same or very similar experiences.
From some replies anyone would think i was proposing an all out venge filled offensive against the poential scam artist and i dont think anywere in my posts i ever said this was "to teach them a lesson" this is something that has been read inbetween the lines, I was suggesting merely winding up the potential scammer by giving my bank details as "Trotters independent traders" or my name as "Rodney Trotter"
Hardly an act of outwright inhumane depravity.
I think the fact my offer to meet the potential landlady in London despite that meaning me travelling 2-3 hours has been declined goes a long way to cast doubt upon the credibility of potential landlady.

Well blow me down, The ad has been removed today by the website owners and th users account removed.
Who would have thought it.

First rule of business well maybe not the first but its up there. Find out where someone lives.

Based on what , exactly?

Ok i continued baiting the scam artist.
Full email transcripts here
Eternal do-goodies need not look, Anyone looking for a flat this is what a scam email may look like so maybe make yourself aware

http://snipurl.com/28uy0

Russisches Haus der Wissenschaft und Kultur
Friedrichstrasse 176-179, 10117 Berlin

Thus: 100% a scam
The address was anyway too central for my taste. Not that you cannot make good deals in Berlin. But not at such a prominent location.
Her mail is also not typical for the English of a native German speaker. A German would also never write the postal code behind the city name (if it's an address in Germany).

Yeah, looks like a scam judging from the e-mail conversation. Reminds me of another one I read about (here and here).

I'd like to bring your attention back to what you said in previous comments that may have indicated you were interested in wasting time and energy on seeking reprisal.

so as to post 30 it loks like me and moonboot were right and was correct in not trusting this.Also proves to post 27 was totally wrong.U turn again???

I wouldn't have sent the cash and would have also had some fun wasting the time of the scammer.

While of course looking for another room.

What a monumental waste of energy! DC, you think it's a scam, ok fine. You clearly haven't got anything to do with your time or must have a really good shift pattern or something. It's a scam, forget it and move on. While you're fucking with this person, other people are out snapping up proper rooms.

Good grief! No wonder crime is such a problem if our policemen are wasting time playing games like this.

To be fair, it is now clear that it is a scam and I stand corrected on this point. As soon as the magic words "Western Union" are uttered, one can be pretty certain it's not legit. I don't, however, think that baiting the scammer is such a good idea when you are using your real name. 419baiters use fake names and disposable email addresses.

Perhaps some police officers get rest days, besides most people on here dont beleive in a copper anyway so what does that matter
Somehow people think i cant look for a room and still send emails to this idiot at the same time
A momnumental waste of energy to some is time well spent to others. I could plod on hollier than thou and turn the other cheek and so on or i could be a 20 year old male and have a laugh. If its not your kind of thing then its not your ind of thing, I dont like Catherine Tate but i hardly say she is a monumental waste of energy then use her public role to make a dig against the state of the country.
Had i said i have found this person scamming people out of money on the internet and turned a blind eye there would be cries that i was nonchalant!

I agree i was silly to use my email address ut i was suckered in at first As you can see all email corrispondence is now at an end

It's one thing to do this as part of a proper investigation. But to do it just for the hell of it...well that seems a little bit sad.

If you're that concerned about protecting others, then get your superiors or someone involved. You doing it on your own for fun, isn't going to help anyone. They'll just move on to someone else as soon as they realise they're not getting any money out of you.

To be fair, I spent last night sitting in front of the TV watching whatever crap happened to be on. I think pissing off a scammer would have actually been a more productive way for me to spend the evening...