My complaint here is NOT about gumtree.com, though it all began on this site.
What I want to do is to WARN people when trying to find apartments via sites like gumtree.com with my story.
I was looking for an apartment in the UK from another country. I found a suitable and not too expensive flat via an ad on gumtree. I contacted the person of this ad and we pretty soon came to an agreement. I was a little suspicious about how relatively fast this went and the fact that the flat was a little too cheap for the location, but it was just at a reasonable limit.
So I let myself fool by a contract made by a solicitors agency and transferred 880 pounds - the deposit as well as the first months' rent - knowing that it is common practice to pay this in advance in the UK.
One week before my arrival this person wanted another transfer, this time by Western Union. I was supposed to do so since a Landlord Association wanted a proof that I am able to cover my expenses for a living in London. They were afraid that I might be a nuisance on the street. It was at this point that I got very suspicious about this and asked a friend of mine who lives in the UK. He immediately told me that I might have been scammed, whereupon I called the solicitors agency who allegedly made the contract. They also told me that this was a scam, having had a lot of troubles already with someone forging contracts in their name.
After I found out I stayed in contact with that person, pretending to not know anything. Unfortunately I did not succeed in getting any more information apart from a false mobile number. Both the police in my country as well as in the UK are having a report about this, but since I suspect some organized crime behind this operating from who knows where I have little hope in their success. The only real information I had was the UK bank details to where I transferred the money, but it is likely that it has been opened with a forged ID card.
Although I always believed I was intelligent enough to see through any kind of scam I have to admit that I have been disabused. This is especially due to the way this person interacted with me. From a normal person who tries to scam you you wouldn't expect a rude email when you're complaining about something, you'd expect an email that says "It's all right, sorry about this etc..." Also some 'personal information' like "Sorry for the late reply, I just got back home from work" were admittedly cleverly spread. So yes, in this case I have not been intelligent enough to understand I had been scammed. The biggest mistake I made though was to NOT call the solicitors agency when I received the contract (via email), blindly trusting that it was all right like this.
So, whoever is trying to find an apartment on the internet:
- be careful with any ad that sounds too good to be true
- be suspicious if an agreement with a landlord/landlady is done too fast and too easy
- do NOT trust any contracts you receive via email, even though they might have been done by a solicitors agency
- do NOT transfer any money before you haven't met the landlord/landlady in person AND before you haven't seen the apartment
I really do hope that if there is anything good coming from this story then it is to prevent others from doing the same mistake!
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