Scams aplenty
Here is an email I got in response to an apartment for lease ad, I have highlighted the red flags:
“Me and my wife are retired and we moved to Spain in 2015 and we will NOT return to Canada anytime soon. The apartment was bought for my son during his college in Canada. When he finished his studies he decided to study for Phd in Australia. I’m renting an apartment for the first time therefore a professional company will make the necessary arrangements for both of us. I think it’s much easier and convenient for both of us.
In Canada it’s your legal right to check the property and verify the documents before I will receive any funds. Therefore I want to use a global real estate company specialized in property management called Savills. They are an online marketplace connecting landlords with tenants and also they provide the most secure payment platform worldwide. Savills just needs my approval and your information so they can proceed with the transaction.
It’s the first time for me doing a transaction like this so I want to follow the legal procedure.
Using Savills involves three parties: me as owner, you as a potential tenant and Savills as a responsible third party authorized to handle this transaction. Savills will handle everything. Savills works the same way as the escrow account on which you place the deposit when you rent an apartment, except that instead of a bank, we use Savills.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AMOUNT YOU WILL SEND TO SAVILLS IS A GUARANTEE DEPOSIT THAT YOU HAVE THE FUNDS AVAILABLE AND IT CAN NOT BE RELEASED WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL. I CAN RECEIVE THE FUNDS JUST AFTER SAVILLS WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THE LEASE AGREEMENT WITH YOUR SIGNATURE. (Send money before even signing a lease agreement)
LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE STILL INTERESTED IN THE PROCESS, so I can provide all the detailed steps of the transaction (I am sure that many of the questions you have now, will be answered after I will send you the steps). If you choose to continue, I will do my best to be as transparent as possible during the whole transaction.
We are now located in Spain so if you have any other questions you can reach me any time at: +34.667286905 ( if you are calling from Canada you need to dial 011- 34.667286905) or you can email me your number and I will give you a call. ”
Just Google it
This unit was listed at least 30% below market rent which immediately is a red flag. They prefered retired people as they are more stable, they said (also more trusting). They had also said that they wanted tenants for 3 months to 6 years or more which is an odd time frame and the kicker is they would rent it with all the beautiful furniture in the pictures at no extra charge.
It is sad that we live in a world that would pray on people in such a way but we do have our friend google to fight back with. To be sure this was not some wealthy philanthropist with a heart of gold who was just dying to help me personally, I googled some things:
- Try google any names he gives with the word “scam” like “scam Sevills” (that’s the one that got me to sites with people posting the same letter)
- Google the phone number and see what comes up. This took me to other ads that posted the listing as a scam. It should have at least come up with the country the number was from-it didn’t
Of course look out for these red flags:
- The owner lives out of the country
- The rent is too cheap, by a lot
- They want to use some kind of international management company with no local office. Nobody legit does that
- They want your information and payment before you view the property or sign a lease (don’t sign a lease without seeing the property)
- They really go out of their way to tell you that they are all about following the law. This is designed to build trust.
Don’t try and play cop
These same cautions can be used for any online or phone dealings. The important thing is to stop all communication immediately. You may want to expose the person but in reality they don’t care about getting caught but they care about keeping you talking. You will expose bits of information that you do not realize. Firstly they now have a valid email or phone number that got them at least part of the way through this scam. This will be sold to other scammers who might have more sophisticated schemes. You may have given you last name and/or the name of a relative, where you work, your current address, the bank you use or some other minor detail that helps them identify you.
Pure evil
These people have no conscience. There is nothing holding them back from stealing your identity and your life savings (that’s the government’s job). As someone who grew up in a more trusting time, I have difficulty just hanging up the phone or just deleting any further emails without being polite. Don’t be polite. This just encourages further conversation. Terminate all communication immediately. You have no idea what useful things you might say. The more they can engage you in conversation the higher you will rank on their list of suckers to sell to another scammer. Almost anyone can fall for these scams, it’s just a matter of the right bait. The more you talk, the more likely you will reveal your weakness.
As always this is just my opinion but I would like to hear some other stories of scams. The way to protect ourselves is to be aware.