How I paid £1,375 to a Fictitious Landlord

According to Action Fraud, rental fraud cost the UK $22 million between 2014 and 2018; with a loss of £1,396 on average per victim. Although this may sound like old news, it is still a current phenomenon as of 2022.

I had been searching for a house since May and was disappointed by numerous agents who never responded to my email for a viewing, or sent me messages that 'unfortunately the landlord has decided to progress with another tenant ahead of you', despite my viewing the house and indicating interest.

I needed to move out of my old apartment on 31st July, as another tenant had paid to move in on the 2nd of August. So you can tell that mid-July I became very desperate for a house when I saw this advert on Facebook market for which I was scammed. The rest of the story is below.

On July 14 of this year, a fictitious landlord conned me into paying the deposit and first month's rent (£1,375) up front. The landlord claimed to be overseas and was unable to travel to the UK to show me the Swansea property. The landlord stated that he didn't want to go through the same thing again after being let down by unreliable tenants in the past. This led them to insist on getting paid first.

When I went to Booking.com to get the house's invoice as requested by the landlord, I discovered a foreign bank account. Then, I asked for a UK account. She claimed that she only had a UK mortgage account and that she was unable to accept payments into this account, therefore I had to transfer money to the foreign account.

I had no idea it was a fraud until I excitedly told a buddy who had gone through a similar situation about my newfound house. In the 14+ emails we exchanged, the fictitious landlord sounded sincere, provided complete property details in her emails, and made no typographical errors. My friend told me it was a fraud after spotting booking.com in the email.

The following day, I filed a complaint with my bank and asked the alleged landlord to email me the house number because the house number was not listed in the advert; and the postcode they initially provided directed me to the National Waterfront Museum at the Marina. The landlord contacted me three days later with a completely different address and post code. This helped us to confirm that our suspicions were correct.

My bank promised to carry out an investigation and suspended my account to prevent further fraud going on the account. Although this is only one instance, what about the numerous vulnerable and desperate renters who have been duped into parting with their money in exchange for a property that doesn't exist?

I decided to share my experience in order to warn Swansea locals and anybody who is considering moving here, from making an advance payment for a house they have not seen. If you don't know anyone in Swansea who can help you go for viewings, ask your company or school for advice on what to do.

I have also attached some pictures of the email the landlord sent. Please share this post with your friends or anyone you know who is planning on relocating abroad.

My next blog post will be about what happened after I sent the money.

#rentalfraud #scam #housestorentinuk #swansea #flatstorentinswansea