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 unsecured loans 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 unsecured loans 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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