Rental Property In France Tags

Wednesday 18 November 2009

Protect Yourself From Scammers!!!

Due to a recent spate of suspicious enquiries received by clients, I have been monitoring all the recent enquiries that have been passing through our mail servers.

It certainly appears that there has been a resurgence of the Nigerian 419 scam or variations thereof. They are randomly mailing the same email to many property owners and they're a patient bunch this time as they are having to enter a security code (captcha) for each mail they send via the property listing contact form on my main site.

Awareness of this scam is the first step in protecting yourself from it and although many people are aware of it, those of you fairly new to the internet may not be so familiar with it.

There are a few basic, common sense rules to apply to enquiries if you’re renting out a house or holiday gite privately (actually some agencies could well benefit from this too!).

How can I tell if an enquiry might be a scammer?

a) Generally, if it sounds too good to be true... It's not true!
b) Their email address. Most of the time these people will use free webmail accounts ie those that end @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, @gmail.com etc
c) Check the spelling and grammar. This is not as bad as it was in the past but the majority of the time the email is badly written.
d) The sender will often try to add credibility to themselves by claiming to be a Doctor, a Teacher or a Lawyer... If the email is also badly written, this is obviously bound to highlight some "questions".
e) The enquirer may state they do not wish to see the property in advance.
f) There will often be an offer to pay the full (sometimes more) rental up front in advance.
g) I've heard that sometimes they try and get you to write a letter to them to take to the embassy so they can get a visa in order to visit to view the house... I presume this is used to lend some credibility that they are serious.
h) If they are just using a standard copy and paste email, they may refer to things not offered in your property. I have seen one recently referring to a photo of the swimming pool with regard to a 5th floor apartment for rent... Ahh yeah!?.
i) A lot of the time the senders name might sound a bit odd, apologies to Kenny P B Smazzo IV but who, in the real world, signs off an email like that? The name will attempt to be English but will just be a little wrong somehow.
j) Western Union may be insisted on as the payment method, if so stay well clear! It's a legit service but favoured by scammers for fast, anonymous money transfer.


What should I do if I get an enquiry that might be a scam?

a) Do NOT reply right away! If the enquiry came to you via my site, www.letsrentpropertyinfrance.com the enquiry will be via the secured contact form on your listing. The sender will not have seen or had access to your email address, so it is safe. If you reply to them, then they will have your email address!!! Before you reply, there are a couple of things you can check and do!
b) Send me a copy of their email - I have had a lot of dealings with these types of emails over the many years I have been using the internet.
c) Do a Google search on their name or email address - Many times I have found an email address to show a profile on something like Facebook or other networking site or forum with mention of Nigeria or somewhere in Africa. It's certainly not definitive but it's a guide, especially if they are claiming to be elsewhere! - At one time the senders IP address (to show where in the world they are) was included in enquiries but I got a lot of "worried" emails from clients asking me what this IP Address thing was in their enquiry. These days the IP address can be easily be made to appear as though the enquiry is coming from anywhere in the world by using what are known as proxies - because of this I removed the function.
d) If you think it may be legitimate but you're not sure but still want to reply register a FREE email address like gmail.com from Google, it only takes a few moments to do. NEVER include any personal or identifying information and NEVER GIVE THEM BANK DETAILS - sounds obvious, but people do - all the time!!! As above the scammer won't know your actual email address if the enquiry was via my site. BUT, if the enquiry came via a site that does not protect your email address (and shame on them for that!!!), the scammer won't care or even notice the reply is from a different address. They will have sent many out and most likely won't keep track until they begin to get replies.
e) If you’re convinced the email is from a scammer (some are just obvious), then don’t reply. They generally don’t keep trying and just move on to the next target.

I already replied to them, what should I do?

a) Keep me informed and send me copies of their subsequent emails. Do not worry, if at this point they appear to be a scammer simply stopping any further replies to them will most likely cause them to lose interest. It's unlikely but they may email 1 or 2 times more but just ignore them (send me the copies) and they will get bored.
b) If you have given bank details contact your bank immediately!!! They will be fine about it, it happens a lot so don't feel embarrassed and not contact them.
c) Generally bank details that are given should only be of any use to make a payment to that account. The thing is these scammers often do make a payment or appear to have made a payment, the trick is they pay more than you asked. (see below)

Why do they pay more than the asking price?

The whole scam revolves around them over paying and asking for the 'change' back. The timing works so that they can send a cheque or make a money transfer that appears to clear so it's not a problem to send them some money back. They pay you £1000 instead of £800 and you send them £200 back... Due to some banking loophole, their original payment never actually clears so you're £200 out of pocket. Scammer: Ker-Ching! You: :O(

A variation is they won't over pay but after you have asked for a 50% deposit, they send the full amount. It works the same way, they suddenly write back to you either making out they made a mistake or they'll claim to have had an accident and need the 50% back to cover medical costs. It'll be some story to tear at your heart strings and try to get you to send the 50% refund... Scammer: Ker-Ching! You: :O(

They may also ask you to pay the costs of the money transfer... Scammer: Ker-Ching! You: :O(

In a nutshell:

NEVER give them personal details.
NEVER give them bank details.
NEVER agree to meet them or travel to their country to finalise things.
NEVER accept a payment with a request for you to send the change back.
NEVER pay for the money transfer.

If you have any doubts at all please email me, I will get back to you as quickly as I can!!!

NOTE: If you currently own property in France that you rent out and are not yet listed on my site please check out my rental property advertising page. Not only is your email address protected as mentioned above but I regularly post scam alerts and warnings to property owners via a newsletter too.

On a lighter note you can see the tables turned on some 419 scammers and have a good laugh at their expense here: 419 Eater (Remember, these people are criminals, feel no pity for them!)