Can this be a scam?

[Cassis]

There a uncountable variations on the same theme - they're not exactly

hard to spot.  If they look as if they don't know exactly what it is

you offer to rent, if they ask you to you bill them in advance, if they mention making immediate credit card payments, if

they are organising a religious/business conference, if they have a title like Doctor or Reverend (we had a bishop once), there are a load

of things that give them away.

"THANKS FOR YOUR ANTICIPATED COOPERATION
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
DR.KINGSLEY"
Well, it's a classic, isn't it?  [:D]

[Marie]

Just got this one this morning - will let it run for a while, as I'm not sure yet.  What do you all think?

"My name is John, my wife and i would be coming for a nice honey moon in Portugal we were just wondering if your appartment is going to be available between the month of june Hope to read from you soon with what is going to cost us to spend 4 weeks.

Many Thanks

John & Janet"

 

This is a request for our house (which sleeps 7) in northern France! Far be it for me to turn down 4 weeks of rent in June, but it doesn't seem right - maybe it's the Janet and John bit???or have I been listening to Wogan too often?

Marie

[Lori]

Maire:  It is the grammar that would make me question it too.  Must be a nice long honeymoon too.  Do you have any indication, from the email address, where they might be from?  Or, did they use a yahoo or hotmail address?  Do they say where / how they found you?  Do you have your own website and/or are you listed with pay sites too?

If your unit is in fact available for the entire month, I would consider emailing them back requesting a phone number so you can contact them to discuss the availability and pricing.  If they are legitimate, I think they would be happy for you to call them.  If not, I doubt they would offer a phone number.

Just an idea.  It does sound odd, but maybe English isn't their native language ..??  Only way to know is to speak with them personally to get a better feel for the situation.

Hope you'll let us know what happens.

 

[Marie]

Thanks for the suggestion Lori.

My husband wondered if they were perhaps FROM Portugal, rather than going there, and that English wasn't their first language, but that then made me question the names - hardly Portuguese! The email address was a Yahoo one, so no clues there, and the message came via the Holiday Lettings website.  We've looked to see if we can get any clues from their IP address, but can't get one from the website ( we made it a feature of our own website that it automatically logs anyone's IP address, so we can keep a better paper trail on people, but unless the message comes via our site, the address isn't recorded.)

Will let you know what happens.

Marie

[Cassis]

How about hitting the delete button?

[Marie]

Update on Janet & John.  No surprises when I say this was a scam, but interestingly, this wasn't confirmed by contact with the mysterious couple - they haven't been in touch since we said we wanted 2 references.  Instead we received an email from Holiday Lettings (it was through their website that the initial contact was made), saying that they were aware we had been contacted by these people, and believed it to be a scam. They have blacklisted their email address.  It was nice to know that the company is being proactive in trying to prevent frauds like this! There seems to be little enough protection for us gite owners, so I'm glad that the advertising site moved quickly to put a stop to this one.

Would the mods consider it acceptable to publish this couple's email address, now that they have been blacklisted by this company? It might save other people the hassle of dealing with them. If not, I'm happy to pm anyone the details.

 

Marie

[Cassis]

I don't think Archant will be happy to publish their email address on the forum.  Anyway, they are clearly inept so there's not a lot to fear from them!