Ive been scammed out £500 by a rental scam

[MissB1988]

I have reported it to the police and the bank cant help. Im posting to see if anybody else has been scammed in any way so i dont feel so alone.

Basically i put an ad on gumtree advertising a requirement for a property tp rent tat accepts housing benefit. I was contacted. Conversations took place in email and over the phone. Documents such as tenancy agreements were sent and i parted with 500 due to the desperaton i was feeling of finding somehwere here that accepts housing benefit and needing to move aswell as a really convincing back story the fraudsters had.

They said they lived miles and miles away and that they had been let down with viewings and said people didnt have the mon ey. Me being desperate to take the place of my dreams and having the money and being totally naive handed the money over only to fi nd out later the flat didnt exist. My friend pointed out to me that the photos the fraudsters sent me had come from a selection of esate agents websites.

I know im totally naive and shouldnt have handed the mon ey over and i am now 500 out of pocket and a dream crushed. Im still able to move its just i was set on the image they painted! It would be great if theyre brought to justie but action fraud arent the quickest at letting you know whats happening and you dont go to the police direct anymore when dealing with something like this.

Anybody ever been defrauded ripped off or lost out due to being too trusting or naive?

What's happened to you is poo OP. These people are scammers and yeah, they do live miles away but not a couple of hundred miles, it's usually thousands of miles away. Never, ever pay anything by WU it's, as others have said, a classic scam. They do it across various social media and advertising sites because for every 100 people who don't fall for it there will be 1 or 2 probably more, who do and are in dire need of something therefore their judgement is clouded. Unfortunately the sites these people use just don't 'police' these ads well enough at all. All I can say is forget that you have lost the money and fallen foul of these people and chalk it up to experience. If you see an ad of this nature again then I would simply report it to the host website if you feel the need.

I'm surprised you were left on your tod effectively to search for a house seeing as you're so vulnerable and desparate for a home. Is there nobody at the council who could assist you or a trusted friend who could help you search through ads via estate agents who are legally operating rather than searching risky ads on websites?

You've had some unpleasant replies here OP, and I'm sorry.

You're not a fool, or if you are, desperation has made fools of many of us in the past.

A man I used to work with scammed people in this way. He was brought to justice and had to pay back his victims.

I've had this scam tried on me. The scammer 'Stella kelvin' gave the exact same speech so I googled her phone number and name and found hundreds of entries on a scam warners site.

I reported her advert and it was removed straight away only for her to create a new one with the exact same description and pictures but in a completely different city!

Sorry you've been ripped off and have had a hard time.
I got ripped off last year, it does happen.
I was desperate for something for my DD's birthday (an X box one) and was stuck in hospital. I foolishly put a wanted on gumtree with a max price for a second hand one.
Someone replied saying they had a new one they'd got with a phone contract and we're happy to post it too. All for the price of put. Of course I jumped at it and of course it was a scam. I lost £150 and my DD didn't get her present (I did get her a few small things though). I still haven't managed to get enough together to get an Xbox one.
I'm also embarrassed to admit I was so easily scammed as I thought I was pretty internet savvy.

I recently posted an add on gumtree looking for house in wymondham Norfolk I received email from a lady named rose grant my husband said it was scam
Email:
[email protected]
Thank you for the reply. The house is available and i am renting the property out because i have just moved from Wymondham to West Midlands where i currently work and live. I work with The Beaufort Care Home, i will be here for at least 5 years. I am not only after the rent but someone that could take good care of my property and all the facilities present.

I am looking for a straight forward prospective tenant because i have been disappointed in many times by some people messing me around with viewing and do not turn up for viewing appointments. However, my solicitor would need some information from you to draft an Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement which you will read, print and bring along with when you're coming for the viewing. Details needed are:

Your full name:
Current address:
Confirmed move in date:
Mobile number:

Please get back to me with these information so that i can tell you how to proceed. I have another interested candidate but she doesn't sound serious, she came for viewing 8 days ago but i think she didn't have enough money for the security deposit. Let me know if you have other options because i wouldn't want to schedule a viewing with you and get disappointed at the end of the day. Thanks for your interest.

I look forward to hearing from you.

hi, A few days ago I deceived just like you. I also looking for a flat on gumtree, rose grant wrote to me and I also send her deposit before viewing. what should I do now? how to recover my money?

MissB1988 is it possible to contact me
I've just been scammed in exactly the same way for £600
I feel so stupid i did my homework I asked so many questions
I got people to look at documents etc

Looks like this Rose Grant person is still scamming.

I hope there is action fraud or the like helping you.

The name wasn't Rose Grant for the property I was scammed on but she is still messaging people on gumtree me included she wants £600 to view a property
Once bitten twice shy

Tesco bank and action fraud are looking into this on behalf of myself who unfortunately, was in the same situation. Doesn't seem like anything is moving fast.
What's the point if f a decent, hard working person bothering to do a full time job when you can just scam people and get tons of money?

I would contact your bank ASAP. Luckily mine refunded me the money straight away and took it upon themselves to sort.
Phone action fraud also. Hopefully the more people that come together and report - the quicker it'll be sorted.

Keep me updated

I have been contact with my bank today. I hear that I won't get my money back.

£600 I've lost bank don't want to know

I got that message today :
I am sorry for the late reply and i am sorry to inform you that i am not who i said i am, i am having some problems and no one to help, the only thing i could do is to scam you. I am sorry to tell you that i am from Russia and the money (£500) is already with me here in Russia.

I know you're not happy with the situation but there is nothing you can do about it because the money is already with me here in Russia.

I hacked that bank account you sent the money to, the person knows nothing about the whole things and she has already stopped the account from bank because she discovered that someone is using her account for fraud. I linked her bank account with a fake Paypal and i have transfer the money out of the bank account to the fake Paypal which i have received after some days, i try to calm you down during the Paypal processing and i have spent the money on what i needed it for.

Please i would like you to learn from your mistake and move forward. Taking a legal action won't get you back your money because the money is already here and please don't waste more money on lawyer to look for spent money you will never receive back.

Please look for another flat not to fail you.

That's mind blowing angie. I really don't know what to advise you and I'm amazed s/he even sent that email. I'm so sorry that you've been scammed in this way

I can't understand, why people can be so bad like she is. I don't know, how.

" They said they lived miles and miles away and that they had been let down with viewings and said people didnt have the mon ey "#

They always say that.
As soon as someone spins me that line, I just keep the conversation going for a while and then tell them they are a scamming bitch.
For some reason they dont like that...:)

These stories are just awful. My MIL is 94 and we had to get her a phone that screens calls as people kept trying to scam her. Luckily she didn't fall for any of them but it's terrible how some people literally have no morals whatsoever. Scummy scammers.

Hello I have just read up on your post I have just been scammed by rosemary and shr took £500 of us left me and my 2 year old waiting around in cold to find out there is no flat now we have no where to live and in dept. Did you manage to get it resolved??

Hello miss b

I have just done exactly the same thing as you. The name Rosemarie grant was used. I grew suspicious , googled the name and found your article. Unfortunately I had already paid the deposit - stupidly, without ever having met 'Rosemarie'.

I am contacting the police. I am hopeful that since this has happened before something can be done. If you could send me your email address we can share information about what happened to both of us. Then help the police sort it out. I was really desperate to find a flat due to having to commute to work, so I am distraught that this has happened to me and feel very foolish.

I am surprised the fraudsters used the same name and Coventry address.

Did you ever get your money back?

Elise - I was supposed to meet Rosemarie at the flat tonight at 6 so luckily I haven't wasted my time going to the viewing. But I have also lost the money. I would like to speak with you in more detail, maybe we can help each other catch these people. I'm absolutely devastated.

I think some of the blame needs to be put on Gumtree. This scam gas been going on years, and the scam ads aren't too hard to spot if you know what to look for as the scanners tend to follow a formula that works for them.

Gumtree should do more to stop this happening.

I realise this has happened to a few of you too.

If anyone can help me, please reply. Or we can at least all speak to action fraud about it. I am so upset about this.

www.actionfraud.police.uk

You can report the fraud here. I have already done so via their online form

Also, they have advised me to share with you my reference number :

Nfrc161101642694

If you are reporting to action fraud what happened with you , especially if it was with someone claiming to be Rosemarie, please mention that there are others who have experienced the same thing and quote my reference number so they can link our cases together.

I thought Gumtree had warnings up. There are so many scams, it's really awful.