Rental Scams In Paris

HOW TO IDENTIFY A SCAMLORD QUICKLY ( http://www.theparisienexpat.com )

By verifying listers, Expatfrance makes every effort to maintain quality listings, however, you must still be aware of the tricks some will try to get away with.

Unfortuntley there are many people out there looking to SCAM potential tenants. It is easy to get excited when you receive an unexpected email or a “positive” response to your intitial enquiry.

Typically, when a lister provides a telephone number ( 06 or 01) you can be safe in the knowledge that they are legitimate (especially if you test the number). However, whenever you are only given an email address as a contact point, be cautious. We’ve copied below, one example of many scam emails circulating at the moment, (incidently, the following scamlord made a simple mistake, signing off as Ms, when she claims to be married).

Hello,
  
I received  your response concerning the AD I posted on Craig list. The  apartment is still available but presently I’m not around.. I did bid for  a portion of petroleuml and sometimes ago in england and  fortunately I won the bidding so I have to move quickly down to  london to have my company set up because I will still have to rebid  for it in the next 10 years..
 
 I came over here with my Husband, we both own the apartment when we got  married. As soon as we settled down here I had a thought of selling  the apartment so I had to look for an agent, after getting one, we got a  deal but later my husband advised against that. He said we may not be  able to win the bidding next time, in other to keep our head when we  return that we have to keep the apartment. I reasoned with him and  accepted his advise. So I contacted the agent back and requested for my keys and documents.
 
 Later we decided to have the apartment rent out, we would have given the  same agent this job also but the truth of the matter is that the agent  would want to handle it professionally and the occupant may not be  able to reason along with him later. If you notice, you will discover  that the price we are offering is far below standard price, this is enough for you to know that we are not after the rental fee but the  absolute care for the property. I know there is no way I can be sure  that you are the right person to live in the apartment because we won’t be able to see physical before sending you the keys and the documents to  occupy the space.
 
 But I just had a feeling that anyone who knows what it takes to put  the kind of structure down should know that maintaining a building is  mandatory, so if you belief you can take good care of the apartment and  handle it like yours then I will be more than happy to let you rent the apartment.
 
 Please if you are ready now to occupy the apartment kindly provide the
 information below for record purpose
 PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF
 
 Full Name__________________________ ________________________ Home Phone
 ( ) ________________________
 Date of Birth_________________________
 
________
 Other Phone ( ) ___________________
 Current Address_______________________________Apt#________
 City__________________ State______ Zip________
 Reasons for Leaving____________________________Rent $__________Phone (
 ) ____________________________
 Are you married____________________________
 How many people will be living in the apartment____________________________
 How many people will be living in the apartment____________________________
 Do you have a pet____________________________
 Do you have a car____________________________
 Occupation____________________________
 Move In Date____________________________
  Amount :euro 550
  Best Regards
Ms. Melissa Johnson 

• Unsurprisingly, this scamlord will not be in Paris at the time you need to meet them. We have seen many variations of this, the further relocation scenarios being China and USA (one, we informed a scamlord that we are going to China on holiday and suggested meeting, we didn’t hear back). London, however, in reality is not too far, and most would travel the one hour journey on the Euro star to meet a potential tenant. You’d be surprised how many scamlords in London are too busy to even meet you for 3O minutes in their city (London)……………….. Reason: SCAM!


• Next, as always, you’re given a brief insight into who the scamlord is; their history, domestic situation etc, all intended to come across as a normal, honest person, in a sense, selling you the idea that all is legitimate. Reason: SCAM! Consider any legitimate landlord you’ve phoned in Paris, did they ever try to sell themselves or their apartment? Unlikely, we all know there is an undersupply of properties out there, so there really is no need.


• You are then be presented with a benefit, in this particular email they are claiming that the price of rent is cheaper (because no agent is involved). A 550 Euros per month, they are right, although they haven’t stated the size of the property (they usually do) the price is very attractive. Reason: SCAM!


• In a city known for the hoops Fsome landlords make tenants jump through, i.e, deposits, salary slips, guarantees etc, this scamlord doesn’t request any such ‘dossier’ , quite simply, all they ask for is; “that you can take good care of the apartment and  handle it like yours”. Reason: SCAM!


• The popular approach at the moment is for the keys of the apartment to be sent to you once you’ve transferred a deposit, whether it be Western Union or any other form of “secure payment”, needless to say; don’t entertain this thought. SCAM!

HOW TO VERIFY THE EMAILER

 Unlike our advice on http://expatfrance.wordpress.com/unique-rental-search-advice/ there is no need to lookup addresses on serach engines or social networking sites. The legitimacy of an emailer can be verified very quickly.

 You can check the IP address of the sender, usually the scamlord will claim to be in a particular country, remember,this email simply said they are moving to London, so we can presume they are either in France or England at this moment in time. However their IP address shows a different story… 

 et voila! we know it can be very difficult finding a rental in Paris, we too have been through the same thing as with are expats in france too, which is why we have set up this site for you all………. just remember, some things are too good to be true!