Is this a fraud using moneybookers escrow?

[ravencin]

I found a pretty nice apartment which is way valued less than the original price and the seller says she is in London right now because of her job.
I traded some emails with her and the last one was like this

I want to inform you that MoneyBookers will hold the money until you will confirm to them that you like the apt and keep the keys. If you don't like it, you only have to return the keys to them after they will refund the money to you and they will deliver the keys back to me on my expense.
I will need to inform you the steps about how this service works and how we can make it happen. You will only have to deposit to MoneyBookers Service the first month of rent - 450 EUR - so they can proceed with the shipping, and you can receive the keys and the contract.
Like I said, I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the Keys and the contract signed by me right away. I will explain to you step by step how this will work:
1 - To start this transaction i will need to know your full shipping information, full name, full shipping address to proceed with this deal .
2 - I go to the MoneyBookers Office and leave the Keys and the contract in your name as the intended receiver.
3 - MoneyBookers will check the envelope to see if everything is OK with it and also the legal papers that will come along with the Keys.
4 - MoneyBookers will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the Keys and the papers in their custody, in which you will be told that they have the Keys and that they checked it.
5 - At this point you will have to go to a WesternUnion Agent Location and make a money transfer deposit on the MoneyBookers agent name ij London assigned with this transaction for the amount we agreed, the total amount you shall deposit is for the first month of rent.
6 - After you make the deposit you will have to send the infos about the money deposit to MoneyBookers (MTCN#, sender's name and address)
7 - MoneyBookers will verify the payment informations and if everything is in order they will deliver the Keys and the contract to you .
8 - After you receive the package, You will go and check the apt and in 2 days you must contact them and tell them if you keep the apt or not, if everything is in order you will instruct MoneyBookers to release the funds to me.
If you don't like the apt they will send your money back and you will send them the keys and the contract to them to return the package back to me on my expense.I will pay MoneyBookers Service for the shipping and you will pay WesternUnion for the Money Transfer fees.Now i must know for sure if you agree because here are a lot of peoples interested to have this apartment rented and i want to know for sure what i must tell them. If you agree what i suggested i will tell them that my apartment is already rented and i will keep it for you. If you agree then i must have all the shipping details so i will be able to make all the arrangements for the MoneyBookers delivery.
Thank you for your interest and wait news from you.
Cornelia

It looks pretty scammish to me but i dont really have experience with this... What do you say?

[lightfair]

It's a scam.

Moneybookers itself will not be involved here. You will get a mail claiming to come from Moneybookers (but actually originating probably from some Internet cafe in Romania). The mail address will probably be something like "moneybookers-escrow@hotmail" or similar.

Stay clear of it. Don't EVER send any money by Western Union to people you don't personally know.

[JaxHot]

scammer's emails please

[ravencin]

Yeah thought so, after registering in Moneybookers i found out that the escrow service is done within their website so ofcourse it was scam

the email is: cornelia.smith@hotmail.com

[lightfair]

While Moneybookers actually offers an escrow service it doesn't work like the one described in the mail.

Thanks for the mail address. Please let us know if you come across similar offers.

[nirhea]

Hi, it also happened to me!!

The e-mail address (carmina.des4@hotmail.com) is different but is the same story... thanks god I checked in the internet before making the transaction and I have found this website...

Be careful!

[ravencin]

Now that i'm looking a place to rent im finding lots of people like this

Here is another email: poul_megaiwer@hotmail.com

[pachapapa]

Wow, thank god for google, I was about to rent an apartment in Las Palmas, Spain, and the whole thing was exactly the same set up. The instructios for Moneybooker and to process the transaction was identical, word by word.
I went as far as calling the owner, and I asked for the seller, a woman by the name os Susana Patew, a man answered the phone and at the beggining, he told me I had a wrong number. After I told him who I was, then he told me he was the husband. He had an african accent, problaly nigerian, and that was the last clue I needed it. Nigerians are notorious for scamming
First name: Susana
Last name : Patew
Address : Hill Drive 4
City : London
PostalCode: SW16 4NP
Country : United Kingdom Money Bookers

This information came under a e mail address of:
Money Bookers <moneybookers@confirmation-transation.com>
This is the information of the supposed Moneybooker agent:

MoneyBookers Agent Details:


First name: Tom
Last name : Despoty
Address : Lewisham Way 22

City/State: London
PostalCode: SE14 6PD
Country : United Kingdom
This is the e mail address of the vendor:

Susana Patew (susanapatew@hotmail.com)

[justme]

This just happens to me too!
I wish I have found this page just yesterday before making the payment!!
It was for an apartment in Tenerife and they asked 400€.
This the information they gave me, I hope it will help someone:

First name: Mariana
Last name: Esteban
Address: Hill Drive 4
City: London
Zip Code: SW16 4NP
Country: United Kingdom

First name: Peter
Last name: Melton
Address: 75 Fulham Road

City/State: London
PostalCode: SW6 5HY

Country: United Kingdom

deas11wer@gmail.com
transactions@moneybookers-notification.com

[ronkat]

well I have the same situation, I called the moneybookers centre and they told me they don't have any agents to act as a middlemen

that's what I received from the scammer:
1.
Hello,
Thank you for your interest.My name is Marina Labajo and from the internet add, you could see, that the apartment located in:avda. pedro barrie de la maza, 1,distrito monte alto - zalaeta - atocha,15001 Coruña, A, La Coruña, Spain. It has 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 kitchen and 1 living room (85m2).
I am looking for someone to live in it, as soon as possible, because my company has won the auction for a project, in construction, for a building that will rise up in London, United Kingdom. I am a civil engineer, so my accommodation period in United Kingdom will be about 4 years. The renting period is from 1 months upto 1-8 years. As a result of this I want to rent, for this period, at this price and also to find the perfect person for my apartment. I`m the owner of the apt and it's like in the pics.
The apartment is furnished, but I have the option of sending all my furniture into storage if you want to bring your own (no extra costs). The rent for 1 month is 400 EUR (for the whole apartment) including all utilities (water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking, air conditioning, dishwasher, garbage disposal, microwave, refrigerator). You can move in the apt in the same day when you receive the keys. The only problem is that I`m the only person who has the keys but I hope that we will find a solution.

Thank you for your interest and I will look forward to hearing from you soon.

2
Thank you for your reply but the matter is that I'm in London already. Like I have inform you before, the price you shall pay for one month of rent will be 400 EUR, with no extra taxes to pay. The money, I want to recive it monthly to my bank account, so I hope it will be no problem for you to wire the money to my bank account. The apartment is ready for you, you will need only to receive the keys and the contract to check it, and see if you like it. Obviously we need a way to complete this deal, that will allow us to make sure we receive what we are after. In order of that I have found a way for us to complete the deal safely and fast, and in this way you will receive the Keys in less than 2 days, if you move fast as well. The solution is provided by a company called MoneyBookers which is similar to FedEx or UPS, which will handle both payment and delivery of the Keys. I have found a procedure that will allow you to pay for the rent of the apt only after you will receive the keys of it and through this way you will see it and decide if you will stay in the apt or not before I receive my payment. Please click on the link bellow to the MoneyBookers website to see how we can complete the deal safely and fast directly from the website of the company where the procedure is explained: https://www.moneybookers.com/app/help.pl?s=escrow&l=ES
Let me know if you are interested please because I really need to take care of this matter.

2
I want to inform you that MoneyBookers will hold the money until you will confirm to them that you like the apt and keep the keys. If you don't like it, you only have to return the keys to them after they will refund the money to you and they will deliver the keys back to me on my expense.
I will need to inform you the steps about how this service works and how we can make it happen. You will only have to deposit to MoneyBookers Service the first month of rent - 400 EUR - so they can proceed with the shipping, and you can receive the keys and the contract.
Like I said, I will pay for a 2 days delivery so you will receive the Keys and the contract signed by me right away. I will explain to you step by step how this will work:
1 - To start this transaction i will need to know your full shipping information, full name, full shipping address to proceed with this deal .
2 - I go to the MoneyBookers Office and leave the Keys and the contract in your name as the intended receiver.
3 - MoneyBookers will check the envelope to see if everything is OK with it and also the legal papers that will come along with the Keys.
4 - MoneyBookers will send you a delivery notification to let you know they have the Keys and the papers in their custody, in which you will be told that they have the Keys and that they checked it.
5 - At this point you will have to go to a WesternUnion Agent Location and make a money transfer deposit on the MoneyBookers agent name ij London assigned with this transaction for the amount we agreed, the total amount you shall deposit is for the first month of rent.
6 - After you make the deposit you will have to send the infos about the money deposit to MoneyBookers (MTCN#, sender's name and address)
7 - MoneyBookers will verify the payment informations and if everything is in order they will deliver the Keys and the contract to you .
8 - After you receive the package, You will go and check the apt and in 2 days you must contact them and tell them if you keep the apt or not, if everything is in order you will instruct MoneyBookers to release the funds to me.
If you don't like the apt they will send your money back and you will send them the keys and the contract to them to return the package back to me on my expense.I will pay MoneyBookers Service for the shipping and you will pay WesternUnion for the Money Transfer fees.Now i must know for sure if you agree because here are a lot of peoples interested to have this apartment rented and i want to know for sure what i must tell them. If you agree what i suggested i will tell them that my apartment is already rented and i will keep it for you. If you agree then i must have all the shipping details so i will be able to make all the arrangements for the MoneyBookers delivery.
Thank you for your interest and wait news from you.

the details:
Sender Information:
First name: Marina
Last name : Labajo
Address : Hill Drive 4
City : London
PostalCode: SW16 4NP
Country : United Kingdom

MoneyBookers Agent Details:

First name: Paul
Last name : Farand
Address : Lewisham Way 158
City/State: London
PostalCode: SE14 6PD
Country : United Kingdom