Scam on property for sale on Daft

  • Thread starter Deleted member 108354
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Deleted member 108354

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I found lots of internet articles on scamming of renters but not much at all on property for sale on Daft. I thought I would never be drawn in by a scammer - I would spot it a mile away - but I was tempted by several emails I received in response to my ad on Daft.

There was no bad spelling. The name of the interested party was Irish. The email was gmail and the phone number was a local Irish provider.

The scammer said they were interested in my property because their property (they named the road beside me) was rented out. They now lived in the US and needed a place to crash for their holidays and mine seemed suitable. They knew my property having lived beside it etc etc etc.

The only reason I felt it was a scam was because they pretended to want to buy it unseen. Who buys a property unseen? I received many of these emails - but different names, different stories but all quite believable. Presumably the scam is they send you a deposit which is twice what you asked and they quickly ask for half to be refunded to their account - they then cancel the cheque.

In any case, when you're looking for a buyer sometimes your guard can be down and these scammers are getting quite sophisticated.
 
I think it would be great if you could identify the real people behind this. You should report it to daft and the police. Also go on Moan to Joe, he loves stories like this.
 
Are you selling this privately or through one of the 'light-touch' online agencies?

Just make sure deposits and contract negotiation all goes through your solicitor. They should weed out any scammers quickly enough.
 
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