shootingstar
10-14-2010, 01:38 PM
it nearly happened to me recently.
If you ever want to rent a place and the so-called "owner" lives in another country (for him, he claimed the U.K.) and has the keys to his place.. There is a scamming scheme to try to get you (gullible prospective tenant) to wire security deposit to a pay-day loan company (like Western Union), send keys and contract via middleman (this case was a cargo tranport company!) to you. Yea, right.
The rent looks low and good, pretty pics of place shown, etc.
I was pursued online consistently for a few days. Then I dropped the chap when I realized he wasn't answering my questions about the coveted apartment. And also the middleman company's website didn't work, meaning it led me to a non-existent/removed domain. Just front fake website pg.
Then I asked a financial advisor at my bank (one of Canada's big 5 banks) who was handling another financial matter of mine. He told me immediately that Western Union has scammed his clients..as soon as Western Union gets a hold of your account, they will debit/deduct often from account for high interest loan rates..etc. He was told by a police officer that the police have a serious challenge to locate the culprit..because often it's only an email address. Western Union will never pursue investigations for a client who is scammed, etc.
That's my story. But serious enough escape, thought I would share, as a warning.
Admittedly with the foreclosure crisis in the U.S., increased problems of online fraud, guess my antennae is just more perked up!
If you ever want to rent a place and the so-called "owner" lives in another country (for him, he claimed the U.K.) and has the keys to his place.. There is a scamming scheme to try to get you (gullible prospective tenant) to wire security deposit to a pay-day loan company (like Western Union), send keys and contract via middleman (this case was a cargo tranport company!) to you. Yea, right.
The rent looks low and good, pretty pics of place shown, etc.
I was pursued online consistently for a few days. Then I dropped the chap when I realized he wasn't answering my questions about the coveted apartment. And also the middleman company's website didn't work, meaning it led me to a non-existent/removed domain. Just front fake website pg.
Then I asked a financial advisor at my bank (one of Canada's big 5 banks) who was handling another financial matter of mine. He told me immediately that Western Union has scammed his clients..as soon as Western Union gets a hold of your account, they will debit/deduct often from account for high interest loan rates..etc. He was told by a police officer that the police have a serious challenge to locate the culprit..because often it's only an email address. Western Union will never pursue investigations for a client who is scammed, etc.
That's my story. But serious enough escape, thought I would share, as a warning.
Admittedly with the foreclosure crisis in the U.S., increased problems of online fraud, guess my antennae is just more perked up!