[eugenius 8]

Ok so i think i just did something really stupid and got scammed.
Well i was looking a for a room for next year and saw this ad on the student accomodation site:

Category: housemates
City: Brighton
Area: Moulsecoomb
Subject: Looking for three housemates.10 mins walk from Uni of Brighton,Lewes Rd.All bills incl.Available now


Message:
Looking for 3 friendly reliable, tidy, student housemates.

House is located in a quiet residential area, 10 minutes walk from University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb campus, near Lewes Road.

One large room £357 pcm
Two single rooms £335 pcm

Fully furnished rooms and all bills inclusive. Internet and free parking is also available.

The rooms are available now. Thank you for reading and please contact me if you are interested.

So i replied and said i was interested. I got an email back like a week later asking if i wanted to see that house and that i needed to give a holding deposit to secure the room. I saw the house everything looked fine so i went back home and later decided i wanted to secure the room. She replied back saying to secure the house i had to transfer the money to an account, but i said i wanted to give out the cash up front which i find out later is even more stuuupiiid also she gave me a contract to look at in the email, also i was able to choose when the contract started....
Soo i then said it was fine and wanted to meet up to sign the contract and to give the deposit, she didnt reply to her email for a few days so i texted her instead and was able to come last Wednesday. We met, i signed the contract, it looked ok at the time, and gave the deposit in cash i got a reciept but it was only until now that i think ive made a big mistake:

the reciept has no bloody name on it, just a signature.
the contract only has the landlord's surname, no first name, and a Mr but at that time of signing i thought it was her relative who owned the house or something, oh god why did i not even ask who the landlord was and i didnt even ask for her ID
she couldnt give the keys yet cos she had to make a copy of them...
and also ive been trying to contact her today on phone but no reply

im so pissed off with myself right now, and should thought about it carefully before doing anything rash

so scam or not? i hope im wrong and sorry for the long post, prob my longest post ever on tsr lol

[learner_dancer]

Originally Posted by eugenius 8

Ok so i think i just did something really stupid and got scammed.
Well i was looking a for a room for next year and saw this ad on the student accomodation site:

Category: housemates
City: Brighton
Area: Moulsecoomb
Subject: Looking for three housemates.10 mins walk from Uni of Brighton,Lewes Rd.All bills incl.Available now


Message:
Looking for 3 friendly reliable, tidy, student housemates.

House is located in a quiet residential area, 10 minutes walk from University of Brighton, Moulsecoomb campus, near Lewes Road.

One large room £357 pcm
Two single rooms £335 pcm

Fully furnished rooms and all bills inclusive. Internet and free parking is also available.

The rooms are available now. Thank you for reading and please contact me if you are interested.

So i replied and said i was interested. I got an email back like a week later asking if i wanted to see that house and that i needed to give a holding deposit to secure the room. I saw the house everything looked fine so i went back home and later decided i wanted to secure the room. She replied back saying to secure the house i had to transfer the money to an account, but i said i wanted to give out the cash up front which i find out later is even more stuuupiiid also she gave me a contract to look at in the email, also i was able to choose when the contract started....
Soo i then said it was fine and wanted to meet up to sign the contract and to give the deposit, she didnt reply to her email for a few days so i texted her instead and was able to come last Wednesday. We met, i signed the contract, it looked ok at the time, and gave the deposit in cash i got a reciept but it was only until now that i think ive made a big mistake:

the reciept has no bloody name on it, just a signature.
the contract only has the landlord's surname, no first name, and a Mr but at that time of signing i thought it was her relative who owned the house or something, oh god why did i not even ask who the landlord was and i didnt even ask for her ID
she couldnt give the keys yet cos she had to make a copy of them...
and also ive been trying to contact her today on phone but no reply

im so pissed off with myself right now, and should thought about it carefully before doing anything rash

so scam or not? i hope im wrong and sorry for the long post, prob my longest post ever on tsr lol

Give it 48 hours- and if nothing happens contact the police...

[Annie72]

Yes, give her a bit more time and take it from there.

[Rian1988]

I really hope it's not a scam, it does still have time to come together. But at least you know where the property is so if the worst comes to the worst you can just camp outside the door until she lets you in.

Also do you know if the girls goes to your uni?

[Dynamitri]

Doesn't look like a scam to me tbh, most of the rental scams want you to pay money upfront via a bank transfer or something, before showing you the room and giving some stupid reason for that - e.g. "my mum has got cancer and I need to go to Scotland every weekend to look after her but I'm gonna send you the keys as soon as the money arrives on my account" or something (I personally had this very scam happening to me a number of times)

It would be pretty stupid of them to scam you now when you've seen them. It doesn't look like a scam, some people rent semi-legally, I've been living in houses without a contract for some time when I was poor and had no job, and it's OK, so don't worry, give it some time before you send hell on them.

[leemkule]

Did they give you any information like a contact number for the landlord? Or is it just this girls mobile number, if you don't even have a number for the landlord, the girl isn't answering her phone and you don't have any keys, it's probably safe to assume you won't see that cash again.

I feel really sorry for you if that turns out to be the case, it's a really easy scam to fall for and pretty hard to catch, you'll probably find the owner of the house has no idea or affiliation with the people doing it, scumbags.

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by learner_dancer

Give it 48 hours- and if nothing happens contact the police...

Originally Posted by Annie72

Yes, give her a bit more time and take it from there.

yeh ok, im gonna go to the house first before doing anything to see if theyre actually in

[leemkule]

Originally Posted by Dynamitri

Doesn't look like a scam to me tbh, most of the rental scams want you to pay money upfront via a bank transfer or something, before showing you the room and giving some stupid reason for that - e.g. "my mum has got cancer and I need to go to Scotland every weekend to look after her but I'm gonna send you the keys as soon as the money arrives on my account" or something (I personally had this very scam happening to me a number of times)

It would be pretty stupid of them to scam you now when you've seen them. It doesn't look like a scam, some people rent semi-legally, I've been living in houses without a contract for some time when I was poor and had no job, and it's OK, so don't worry, give it some time before you send hell on them.

Not all scams as as blatant as that. They did exactly what the OP is describing in the show 'The Real Hustle'. They took deposits on a flat from several people, signed a fake receipt and just bailed with the cash. People show their face all the time when scamming people. You're unlikely to ever see them again.

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by Rian1988

I really hope it's not a scam, it does still have time to come together. But at least you know where the property is so if the worst comes to the worst you can just camp outside the door until she lets you in.

Also do you know if the girls goes to your uni?

what if she doesnt even own the house lol

she mentioned one of them going to a nearby uni and has stayed for 3 years...but i didnt meet her

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by Dynamitri

Doesn't look like a scam to me tbh, most of the rental scams want you to pay money upfront via a bank transfer or something, before showing you the room and giving some stupid reason for that - e.g. "my mum has got cancer and I need to go to Scotland every weekend to look after her but I'm gonna send you the keys as soon as the money arrives on my account" or something (I personally had this very scam happening to me a number of times)

It would be pretty stupid of them to scam you now when you've seen them. It doesn't look like a scam, some people rent semi-legally, I've been living in houses without a contract for some time when I was poor and had no job, and it's OK, so don't worry, give it some time before you send hell on them.

yeh maybe im just coming to conslusions too quicky

yeh my dad said some people do that so it saves paying tax and stuff

[learner_dancer]

Originally Posted by eugenius 8

yeh ok, im gonna go to the house first before doing anything to see if theyre actually in

Try and find out if anybody else has taken on the offer? You should also be weary in case the 'landlord' was providing a fake name...

[eulerwaswrong]

wait a few days - but if it is a scam - thats really unlucky -

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by leemkule

Did they give you any information like a contact number for the landlord? Or is it just this girls mobile number, if you don't even have a number for the landlord, the girl isn't answering her phone and you don't have any keys, it's probably safe to assume you won't see that cash again.

I feel really sorry for you if that turns out to be the case, it's a really easy scam to fall for and pretty hard to catch, you'll probably find the owner of the house has no idea or affiliation with the people doing it, scumbags.

aw no i dont just her number and email yeh i should have thought of it more carefully, was in a bit of a rush well if this is a scam, at least i know i have to be smarter next time and not do it again

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by learner_dancer

Try and find out if anybody else has taken on the offer? You should also be weary in case the 'landlord' was providing a fake name...

ah yes good point, they were a few replys for that ad, gonna ask them

[eugenius 8]

thanks for the replies everyone yeh im gonna give a few days and see what happens

[Rian1988]

Originally Posted by eugenius 8

thanks for the replies everyone yeh im gonna give a few days and see what happens

Let us know how you get on.

[leemkule]

Originally Posted by eugenius 8

aw no i dont just her number and email yeh i should have thought of it more carefully, was in a bit of a rush well if this is a scam, at least i know i have to be smarter next time and not do it again

Hm, just had a look at the place it was advertised, did you pay a deposit on the large room or just a single?

[learner_dancer]

Originally Posted by eugenius 8

thanks for the replies everyone yeh im gonna give a few days and see what happens

Good luck!

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by Rian1988

Let us know how you get on.

cheers, i will

[eugenius 8]

Originally Posted by leemkule

Hm, just had a look at the place it was advertised, did you pay a deposit on the large room or just a single?

the large room, but it had a single bed..so £357