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How to Spot a Scam

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

WARNING: Scammer Laura Williams

Scammer: Laura Williams
Email used: sdff_info@yahoo.com.

She claims to live in Paris but writes from IP address 216.118.254.106, which corresponds to United States Los Altos Vsc Satellite Co — an ISP favoured by Nigerian scam artists. Here’s her rip-off pitch:


On 2008-09-26 Laura Williams :
From: Laura Williams
Subject: Room available in Paris
To: [name withheld]
Date: Friday 26 september 2008
Hello…

As regard room which is available for rent in Paris.

For formalty purpose, let me introduce myself: My name is Laura Williams,26,easy going, Clean tidy, non smoker female. I am originally from Manchester, England, and i moved to join my father in France when he was transfered to Paris.

The house formally belongs to my late father, who worked with British Embassy here in Paris until his death and he has passed it to my mother through his will. My mother and siblings went back to the UK,Manchester after the death of my father.

The most important thing i am looking for is to share daily live and common value. The ideal person i will like to share the apatment with must be a neat person,tidy person,
trust worthy person and there must be proof that he or she can payfor the monthly rent.

I am currently working with an Airline which enables me to travel alot and i as well attend language school when i am not working. The apartment is located at; Rue De Chateau Lando Paris 75010

The location is perfect.
The House is in a cool area , has there is no noise in the vicinity, because the house is not close to major busy roads.

The apartment is located in the center of the city and it is close to bus stops and as well as tube station which makes the apartment to be accesible. The house has a parking space which can park two cars at a time.

The house has internet and there will not be any need for you to bring in any furnitures as the flat and the rooms are well furnished, but you can as wellcome along with your furnitures if you so wish.

The faciities which are available in the apartment are as follows:

1. Private Bathroom and Toilet
2. Furnished Living room with TV connected to cable and DVD
3. Shared Kitchen with gas, water available
4. There is connection to internet via wireless and LAN and also Broadband aswell for your computing purpose,so you can come with your laptop or desktop if you have one.
5. Washing machine and Dryer
6. Furnished Bedroom with window blind and Bed spread

The prices for the apartment are as below:
570 Euro/ monthly rent, Utility (all bills) included.
650 Euro/ Security Deposit(will be refunded to you on your move-out date).

The minimum duration in the apartment is one month and long term stay is welcome in the apartment.

The apartment has two toilet and bathroom, so the only thing which we will have to share together is the kitchen and the living room.

There are three rooms in the apartment, i currently occupy one, the second one is the one i am renting out, while i regard the third room as visitor’s room.

If you are interested in sharing the flat with me, i will be glad if you can contact me for pictures and procedures.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards.

Laura
.
Followed by a request for funds and a copy of the person’s ID:
.
On 2008-09-27 Laura Williams wrote:
From: Laura Williams
Subject: Room available/pictures
To: [name withheld]
Date: 27 september 2008
Hi [name withheld],

Thanks for your mail,and It’s really nice to know that you have an interest in my room.

The flat has three room,One is for me,One is for rent and the last one is regarded as a visitor’s room.

The fact is that the room is still available,but you have to do this on time because there are people contacting about the room,However i am contacting you to see if we could have a deal, but it depend on your seriousness as regard having the room , because i have come across so many unserious people who only like wasting other peoples time and i hope you quite understand me and my worries,and if you are truly interested in renting the room you will have to book for it in advance, by transferring the Rent and the security deposit to Our family lawyer via Bank Transfer. However,before you can transfer the payment to my family lawyer in England, there are procedures which we have to follow,Our family lawyer will have to
prepare a tenancy Agreement Form which you will have to read and understand and if you eventually agree with the contents of the contract, you will have to print it out and sign it and come with a copy on your move-in date.

After our family lawyer might have prepare the Agreement Form, i will have to send a copy to you via attached file to your e-mail address and mail a copy to your postal address as well.
I will like to have the following information that we enable our
family lawyer prepare the tenant Agreement Form:

1. Your moving-in and moving-out date.
2. Your current home address.(The purpose of the address is to enable me send a copy of the Agreement form to you, which you will have to bring along on your move-in date)
3. A scanned copy of your id card.


I will be waiting to read from you soon.

Regards.

Laura
PS:I have attached the pictures of the apartment for your viewing. The security deposit is refundable on your move out date.

7 comments:

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hi, I live in the Paris suburbs and there is always a lot of apt. scams going on over here.. It's horrid... My friend got scammed for 1500 euros but the scam was very elaborate and NOTHING like the ones posted here... it was an ad in a local paper.. and apparently the person got a hold of the owner of the apt's keys... and posed as the people who owned the apt. while the owner was out of town on vacation... The same apt. was rented out to my friend and another man... but when they went to the police.. the police basically laughed in their face and told them they didn't have any recourse.. That they should have gone through an agency.. APPARENTLY--- SUBLETTING IS ILLEGAL in France!!!! So, if someone is renting out an apt... that is a renter... not the owner.. it's NOT legal!!

Marianna said...

Hey I just came across the Laura Williams scam, I was so excited but after a while, the apartment and the amount of money she wanted wired up front sounded a little too good to be true, so it was nice to be able to find this. She even sent me a copy of her passport, but when you zoom into the picture up close, you can see that the letters are typed in.

Unknown said...

It's too late for me already.
Laura also rents housing in Jerusalem (living in a nice embassy house there.
I transfered €750 to her mother Ann Williams who picked it up in England.

So there has to be a real person in England... But what to do know???

Anonymous said...

I just responded to an ad on craigslist for a room to rent in Paris and got an email back from this Laura Williams. No one from Manchester could have such poor English! I smelled a scam, googled the name and here it is. Fortunately these people aren't too smart- if you're not writing in your native tongue, don't try to convince a native that you are!

Anonymous said...

Tokyo renters beware. She is in Japan as well, and has just exchanged the Paris details for a few Tokyo tidbits. Identical story.

Anonymous said...

Hola, estoy recibiendo correos de una tal Laura Williams que dice que hay un dinero para compensación de victimas de pishing y scam y que yo soy beneficiaria. La suma total es de 300.000 dólares! Es bastante bueno para ser verdad, quisiera que me ayuden, diganme que opinan. Ademas me dice que no me pide ningun dinero para continuar con los tramites. yo fui victima de pishing, pero no lograron sacarme nada porque no tengo cuentas en el banco ni nada de eso. Saludos.

Anonymous said...

there is alot of them going on they are now doing it on myspace there is a kelsey williams that will give you some really nice pics. and say they need money to get them home and as we speak im with laura williams getting scamed so they think. don't send anything don't fall for it they are very convincing. they will get you on yahoo.com and talk to you.