Phoney Flat Ads on Gumtree

[Monk]

So my girlfriend and I are looking for a new place. Looked on Gumtree and found a few places that looked ok. Sent 3, yes 3 emails and ALL 3 were fraudulent.

This email I got was the funniest of all though, I would have highlighted the errors but there are just so many!:

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness hearing from you.I am Rev John Graham,the owner of the flat you are making enquiry of. Actually I resided in the flat with my family,such as my wife and my only daugther before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in California USA and presently my flat is still available for rent for £400 per month including the utilities like hydro,wash er and security,it is furnised.Moreso Now, i am currently in West africa for a Crusade and i will like you to get in touch with my wife for more discussion as She is with the keys and the document to the flat and she's in California and she has an accident two months ago that is why we are not together in africa and the accident was terrible which affected her ear and my legs,she is currently on a wheel chair right now....she will be able to send the keys and documents to you through DHL COURIER SERVICE ON A NEXT DAY DELIVERY TO YOUR HOME and move in asap, Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintainance of this flat and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i came for a check up.i do that once in a while...I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you located and where do you see our advert also let us know if you need more pictures.

[Jay]

So my girlfriend and I are looking for a new place. Looked on Gumtree and found a few places that looked ok. Sent 3, yes 3 emails and ALL 3 were fraudulent.

This email I got was the funniest of all though, I would have highlighted the errors but there are just so many!:

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness hearing from you.I am Rev John Graham,the owner of the flat you are making enquiry of. Actually I resided in the flat with my family,such as my wife and my only daugther before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in California USA and presently my flat is still available for rent for £400 per month including the utilities like hydro,wash er and security,it is furnised.Moreso Now, i am currently in West africa for a Crusade and i will like you to get in touch with my wife for more discussion as She is with the keys and the document to the flat and she's in California and she has an accident two months ago that is why we are not together in africa and the accident was terrible which affected her ear and my legs,she is currently on a wheel chair right now....she will be able to send the keys and documents to you through DHL COURIER SERVICE ON A NEXT DAY DELIVERY TO YOUR HOME and move in asap, Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintainance of this flat and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i came for a check up.i do that once in a while...I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you located and where do you see our advert also let us know if you need more pictures.

Wasn't this the site that was on Watchdog the other month?

have you read Yes Man where he strings the sultan along regarding his fathers money maybe you could have a laugh by seeing how ridiculous you can get before they don't reply.

I don't know may you are currently also doing voluntary work in say Lagos Nigeria and would like to meet them to drop of the deposit could be funny

[coale39]

So my girlfriend and I are looking for a new place. Looked on Gumtree and found a few places that looked ok. Sent 3, yes 3 emails and ALL 3 were fraudulent.

This email I got was the funniest of all though, I would have highlighted the errors but there are just so many!:

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness hearing from you.I am Rev John Graham,the owner of the flat you are making enquiry of. Actually I resided in the flat with my family,such as my wife and my only daugther before and presently we had packed due to my transfer from my working place and now situated in California USA and presently my flat is still available for rent for £400 per month including the utilities like hydro,wash er and security,it is furnised.Moreso Now, i am currently in West africa for a Crusade and i will like you to get in touch with my wife for more discussion as She is with the keys and the document to the flat and she's in California and she has an accident two months ago that is why we are not together in africa and the accident was terrible which affected her ear and my legs,she is currently on a wheel chair right now....she will be able to send the keys and documents to you through DHL COURIER SERVICE ON A NEXT DAY DELIVERY TO YOUR HOME and move in asap, Pls i want you to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your absolute maintainance of this flat and want you to treat it as your own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i came for a check up.i do that once in a while...I also want you to let me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you located and where do you see our advert also let us know if you need more pictures.

Free hydro! wooo

[Darkzzz_]

Had so many of these Nigerian scams on Ebay.

I usually email them back in the biggest font ever and what I send isn't pleasant.

I hate these scumbags.

[Tilley]

Had so many of these Nigerian scams on Ebay.

I sold a PSP on eBay & some Nigerian bloke won the auction but didn't pay.

Instead, they were trying to hack into the bank details on my account!

Luckily we found out.

[cisono]

I sold a PSP on eBay & some Nigerian bloke won the auction but didn't pay.

Instead, they were trying to hack into the bank details on my account!

Luckily we found out.

Some Brasilian won one of my ebay auctions (even though my listing clearly stated "UK only. Please email if you live in another country". She (?) never contacted me and didn't pay).

Luckily, ebay cancelled the auction altogether when I reported it.

We also purchased a DVD boxset from someone supposedly UK-based with 100% feedback.

When I contacted him about the DVDs, he told me he had not placed the items on ebay, someone else had hacked into his account and offered them for sale and that ebay had been alerted. Then I realised the paypal email (payee) belonged to someone in Hong Kong and was definitely different from the ebay seller's email. (The DVDs eventually arrived, but were damaged copies, in spite of reassurances that they were originals)

Ebay is NOT a safe place...