Back in March I took a telephone enquiry from a man based in the midlands who wanted to rent my flat in London for approx 4 weeks (at less than a week's notice) as he had business meetings for a new client. He sounded legit, and was very polite. He asked if he could view the flat as he was already in London for a few days. I responded that it was already occupied but that I was happy to meet him outside so that he could see the location.
He was happy with this as he wanted to be sure that it really existed as he'd heard a lot about scams in London. He particularly wanted my flat as it was great for families and he wanted to be able to have his wife and child to stay at weekends.
So - I met him outside the flat and I even opened the front door with my key to assure him that it was my own property (he didn't ask for this, I volunteered). He was a nicely spoken, well dressed, asian man in his late twenties/early thirties.
We chatted and he was happy with the arrangements. He wished to arrive that friday (three days away) and would bring full payment in cash. Could I provide a receipt? Of course.
He arrived later than he had planned, but called to say would it be OK if I or my husband would meet him at the station (5 mins walk away) as he was nervous about carrying so much cash (£2k) in an area he didn't know. So I met him there and walked him to the apartment, chatting all the way.
I let him in, took his money, gave him the keys. Everything seemed fine. This was a Friday night.
Fast forward to Monday morning. I get a phone call from the owner of the upstairs flat (which is sub let). She happens to be a lettings agent and her agency board is constantly positioned outside the flat (that used to annoy me, but not anymore!).
She asked me if I had my flat up for rent long term, rather than holiday lets (we know each other fairly well so she knows that it is a holiday let). I of course answered no.
It transpired that she had, that morning, taken a call from a woman who had viewed my flat over the weekend and was about to rent it long term, handing over 6wks rent as deposit and a month in advance. She really wanted the place (it was a good deal at £1100 per month furnished including bills) but was slightly wary so called the number on the board to verify the letting.
She had answered an ad on CraigsList. I looked it up and sure enough, there was my flat up for rent, listed that Friday night within minutes of him gaining access to the property.
I immediately panicked (!) but then thought it through and called a friend who "knew someone" so they came round and gently (honestly!) removed the fraudulent tenant from my flat.
He didn't answer the door when we knocked so we let ourselves in. He'd popped out to the shop or something, but left his laptop open on the table, with his yahoo account open and all the emails from the people wanting to rent my flat!
We set about packing up his belongings into binbags. When he returned he was very surprised to have been rumbled (and very apologetic and pathetic). He left without a fight and didn't ask for any of his money back.
There had been numerous "viewings" over that weekend and indeed, I had to turn away half a dozen people myself that Monday afternoon.
Had I not been alerted that Monday morning, I would have undoubtedly ended up with many people trying to move in at the beginning of the following month. All of whom would have needed a place to stay when they discovered they had been scammed. The timing meant that any interested parties that agreed to take the flat over the viewing weekend, would have had to get to the bank to pay their rent deposits on the flat, for which they would have had to wait until the banks opened that morning.
So - I had to pay out for "security services" and new locks/keys but still ended up quids in. But I felt unhappy about the money (which will have been dishonestly obtained) so donated it to charity by way of concert tickets for charitable events (I felt better, the charities made money).
I tried, and tried, and tried to report this "crime" to anybody I could think of, but, because I wasn't actually defrauded personally, there was no actual crime. Staggering, huh?
So. There's my long way of telling you all my cautionary tale. Be wary of seemingly honest young men...
By the way, he told me his name was Sumant Bhatta. I believe this to be his real name or close to it (he said his name was Sammy Bhut to the prospective tenant).
On further inspection, the "home" address he gave was for some business apartments in the midlands.
