How the Gumtree Rent Scam works
I recently had someone email me regarding my article about the gumtree scam. He was wondering how it could be a scam if you never actually send any money to the advertisers, so I decided to use this post to detail how the scam works exactly.
1. The scam starts by the fraudsters taking pictures of either hotels or celebrity styled houses and then posting it on gumtree for rent.
2. The unsuspecting user is taken in by the pretty pictures, great location and most importantly of all, the cheap price for rent.
3. The user replies the fraudster asking about the flat.
4. The fraudster replies saying he/she is a doctor/engineer/lawyer (whatever) and is currently outside the country and needs to know you are serious before he/she comes down to show you the house.
5. The fraudster later says in order to know if you are serious and if you have the money, you should wire two months rent to a friend, partner or someone close to you and then scan the receipt and send it to him. Once he calls to confirm the funds are actually there, he will come down, show you the house and you can withdraw the money from western union and pay him.
Pay close attention to the fifth point as this forms the heart of the scam. If you decide to send the money to your friend and you scan and send him the receipt, forget about getting your money back. The receipt you would have sent him will have all the information necessary to withdraw all the money. Once he/she gets that, they will probably create a fake ID, go to the western union shop, pretend to be the recipient of the funds. Since they WILL have the reference numbers and any additional information needed from the receipt, they WILL be able to withdraw the funds, leaving you with no money and a pretty picture of the flat you just paid for.
Don't fall for this please.
1. The scam starts by the fraudsters taking pictures of either hotels or celebrity styled houses and then posting it on gumtree for rent.
2. The unsuspecting user is taken in by the pretty pictures, great location and most importantly of all, the cheap price for rent.
3. The user replies the fraudster asking about the flat.
4. The fraudster replies saying he/she is a doctor/engineer/lawyer (whatever) and is currently outside the country and needs to know you are serious before he/she comes down to show you the house.
5. The fraudster later says in order to know if you are serious and if you have the money, you should wire two months rent to a friend, partner or someone close to you and then scan the receipt and send it to him. Once he calls to confirm the funds are actually there, he will come down, show you the house and you can withdraw the money from western union and pay him.
Pay close attention to the fifth point as this forms the heart of the scam. If you decide to send the money to your friend and you scan and send him the receipt, forget about getting your money back. The receipt you would have sent him will have all the information necessary to withdraw all the money. Once he/she gets that, they will probably create a fake ID, go to the western union shop, pretend to be the recipient of the funds. Since they WILL have the reference numbers and any additional information needed from the receipt, they WILL be able to withdraw the funds, leaving you with no money and a pretty picture of the flat you just paid for.
Don't fall for this please.
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YouTube Scam related video
I added this video because it talks about scams extortion and fraud on ebay, while it is not the same as gumtree, most of these fraudsters tend to use the same sort of format across a variety of sites, So knowing more about scams and fraud will better prepare you to protect yourself against fraudsters this holiday season.
Ebay Feedback Extortion Scam Fraud Ring Exposed
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Reply
- Gabriel. Gabriel. Sep 18, 2009 @ 10:17 am
- I am from Argentina and I had this FRAUD in gumtree. I will travel to London next Feb and all that you describe happend to me, For luck I didn't pay with Wetern Union because was strange for me, I searched information on google and Thank to you I keep save my money.
There are many frauds in gumtree, if you put your pic seeking girls you will have emails from beautiful russian girls who are a FAKE.
Sorry for my english.
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Reply
- Ruby Ruby Sep 15, 2009 @ 5:18 am
- Very nearly got scammed then someone told me to google gumtree rent scams and it all sounded too familar.
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Reply
- tcherokee tcherokee Sep 11, 2009 @ 6:58 am
- Hi Cgrennan,
I am sorry to hear that they actually managed to scam you out of $1800. Now that you know, I am sure you will not fall for it anymore and will steer any body you meet in the right way if they are thinking of falling for it as well.
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Reply
- CGrennan CGrennan Sep 9, 2009 @ 7:45 pm
- I was, unfortunately, scammed and feel so vulnerable. I am now out of $1800. This sort of information needs to be circulated more extensively in the USA.
Thank you for this post.
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Reply
- ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Dec 16, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
- Its scary how easy it is to get scammed these days. Its hard to know who to trust.
Great lens
Lizzy
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