How to prevent scams

Bonsoir people!

After I found out about the scam, I started looking on Gumtree and I found some advice (why didn't I look there BEFORE I did anything??) and a forum where users share their "scam experience". What I found there is quite scary, and my offer was definitively a dirty ol' scam!

So let me share my experience! How to avoid a scam? (most information comes from Gumtree)


1) The best way is to actually visit the flat/house you covet. It's the best way to check if your landlord is honest and if the property is genuine. Remember that it is highly advised not to visit a flat alone. Bring a friend with you; it's safer, you never know!

However, it's not always possible. It wasn't for me. So what to do in that case?

2) If you know someone who can visit the place for you, ask them!

3) Do NOT send a copy of your ID (passport, identity card, driving license, or anything)! The scammer would be able to use it for another scam. It is dangerous.

4) NEVER provide your bank details to someone you do not know.

5) Use common sense; if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is!

6) If your landlord wants you to transfer money (such as the security deposit) through Western Union, or something similar, then it's probably fraudulent. It often happens that the scammer asks their victim to transfer some money to a friend to make sure they can actually pay, and then intercept the money thanks to the scanned receipt the patsy would have sent.

7) If your landlord tells you they are currently abroad/oversea, and thus cannot meet you in person to make you visit the flat, then they are most certainly a scammer. They will use excuses such as: "I have found a new job in [insert name of city here]".

8) It often happens that scammers cannot provide a phone number.

9) It is now known that many scammers come from Africa (Nigeria). Thus if you think your landlord's English is a bit awkward, beware!

10) Your supposedly landlord will make everything to make themselves trustworthy. That happened to me. My landlady told me I could pay for the extra weeks whenever I wanted to. She told me I could deduct the transfer charges from the security deposit. Stuff like that.

11) Check the pictures, if there are any (and if there are none, ask for some). I have found a website that could be really useful and which allows you to see if a picture can be found somewhere on the Internet: TinEye.



The Gumtree team made a nice video on how to stay safe online. I found it useful. If only I had seen it before I got scammed! It basically sums up all what I've said.

If you have any more ideas, please comment, and I'll add your advice on here =)

To finish with, here is a reportage I've found on the BBC News website. May it help you!

Scammed XD

Hi people!

Remember when I said the list was getting shorter because I had my accommodation and plane ticket? Well I still have my plane ticket, but plans have changed regarding my accommodation! I will live in the host family the school offered me after all, because I have found out my "landlady" scammed me! How did I find that out you might ask? Take a look at those two pictures.

Can you spot the difference?

Picture sent by my "landlady" in an email

Picture found on Google Image

The difference is striking, don't you think? How come that we can find the exact same kitchen in Ely, England and in Ontario, Canada (the second picture comes from a Canadian website)? Look! Even the lamp is the same! And both have a green plant outside! What a coincidence, I can't believe it!

The bottle of wine and glasses should have made me smell the rat. And there were some little details about my "landlady" which didn't catch my attention at first but became really fishy once I found that picture: no phone number (she's supposedly lost it at a friend's party), no bank account (she's having problems with it), the British female flatmate who makes odd English mistakes and whose email address seems to be the one of a boy, or even the fact that the contract was defined by the Housing Act of 1998 when there is a Housing Act of 2004!

In short, I was scammed! Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for the swindler, I haven't paid the security deposit (which is quite a lot of money!)! I had planned to pay it tomorrow. Well, I'm lucky I found that out before paying!

Fortunately, I didn't refuse the school's offer. I had planned to tell them after I paid the deposit. So that means I still have a place to live in England! And if I'm not happy with it, I'll find something else in Ely, and I won't be scammed again because I'll be able to actually visit the flats and meet the landlords!

Moral of the story: Internet sucks, and this world is full of crap!!!

Plane tickets bought!

Yellow!

So yesterday, we bought our plane tickets, my mum and I. Yes, my mum is coming with me. Why? Because it's the cheapest and simplest solution we've found to carry all the luggages I'll have to carry!

We're leaving on the 24th of September and will spend one night in Cambridge, so we'll be able to visit the city =) And we'll leave for Ely in the afternoon of the 25th. We'll have a fun time, I'm sure. And having my mum with me is reassuring, both for me and for her!

Now I have my accommodation (if I wasn't scammed XD),and my plane ticket booked! I have plenty of other things to worry about, but the list is getting shorter!

I'm going to be a Tenant!

Hey guys!

I thought it was time to write a new article, as I have found accommodation in Ely! Yes! I will live in a flat, with a female student, in the very centre of the city. Shops, restaurants and pubs are near, and it's close from the station and only 15 minutes walk from the school! The room is furnished and the rent includes all bills. I have signed the contract today. I still need to get it back with the landlady's signature, and pay for the security deposit. After that, I'll be a Tenant =)

My school had reserved me a room in a host family in Soham, but I decided to go with the flatshare. I will have my "own" home, be free and learn how to be fully independent =) What's more, I didn't want to live in Soham, but in Ely, which seems more lively and more pleasant. I might be wrong though, but come what may!

My flat is in this area. Maybe my view will resemble this: