Mr. Craig Making the Rounds?

A reader asks me this "Joey can you tell me if this is a scam?"

 What say you?

I say "Yes." See this after reading the note below:

His answer to my question about a flat I'm interested in:

On 3/3/2012 2:59 PM, craig.d123@yahoo.com wrote:
Hi,
The flat is 1 bedroom flat and i am willing to rent it out, the flat is well furnished and well decorated with a lot of facility such as::WiFi Wireless internet facilities, Phone, TV,Microwave, Dish washer, washing machine, Dryer, R0000D. efrigerator, Bathroom, Toilet, Bedroom0s, kitchen, utility room and the bills is included in the rent amount and also you will be using all the facility alone without sharing with anybody.

Flat address:2 Bute Street, Kensington, London, United Kingdom
Post Code:SW7 3EX
Rent: £100 per week
Rent: £400 per month,all bills included
Security deposit:£300 refundable after four weeks in the flat.

Could you tell me a bit more about yourself? Are you capable of funding the rent and refundable deposit before moving in? Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,
Mr Craig
_____________________________________________________________________

My 1st response:

Date: Sat, 03 Mar 2012 15:53:53 -0800

To:
Subject: Re: £100 / 1br - BEAUTIFUL ONE BE DROOM FLAT IN SOUTH KENSINGTON, ALL BI LLS INCLUSI VE (SOUTH KENSINGTON)

Hello Mr Craig,
Im in Los Angeles, Im relocating to the UK in early May, I know its far off and your flat will probably be gone by then, but I want to start looking at what is available now.

Im very interested in your flat, it looks beautiful, but I wouldn't be arriving until May 10th.. However, if my UK Ancestry Visa is approved before then I will come sooner. I cant imagine the visa will come through before April. I'm Australian (soft British/Australian accent) with a UK Grandfather.

If the flat is available once I know the exact date I'm arriving I will have my best girlfriend pop over to view it for me and pay you. The flat would be for me alone, and of course my two cats that I'm bringing to the UK with me. Both house/litter-bin trained. (I place the litter bin in the bathroom.)

I have excellent landlord references, I'm 59, female, a non smoker, a non partier, single, very quiet. I'm going to be doing fashion styling in London, actually it will be one of the editors who will be coming to view the flat for me. 

I have a handmade perfume tiny business here in LA, I will see if I can establish that in the UK, but it will take some time, so the styling work is it for the first year or so!

I will contact you again as soon as I know my dates and then if your flat is till vacant I can send my references and so forth.

Kindest regards
______________________________________________________________________

His response - is this a scam??

------- Original Message --------
Subject:     Re: £100 / 1br - BEAUTIFUL ONE BE DROOM FLAT IN SOUTH KENSINGTON, ALL BI LLS INCLUSI VE (SOUTH KENSINGTON)
Date:     Sun, 4 Mar 2012 04:23:31 +0000
From:     craig.d123@yahoo.com


Glad to hear back from you, right now im in Cardiff on a business trip before i can come down to London for the viewing , i have to be very sure im dealing with the right person .also i will like to know that i have be treated so badly by those who wanna rent my flat, before we can arrange for the viewing,i will like to see a proof from you.

1. it has been observed that's some  tenants do not have the money to pay the rent and yet they keep disturbing  the landlord to arrange a viewing with their friend or relative .i hope you are not one of them .

2.  Also some do not meet up with the viewing appointments which has led to the dismissal of some landlords in office by there employees.
      
Therefore,effort has been made by the  association  that a willing and serious  tenants should be able to make transfer of the security deposit and one month rent  to a friends or relative name which a confirmation will be made on the transfer done to check if he or she is capable of paying the rent before arranging for a viewing or to retain the room for you and also stop other people from viewing the room..
   
 I'm not asking you to send or transfer the money to me, just get the transfer done to any of your friend in the UK ( London ). This is a procedure given to us by the Landlord Association due to past/bad experiences with the other landlords and We've been warned not to take a bank statement or personal information from anyone,All you need to do
   
Locate the nearest western union shop around you. 2.Pick up the form of transfer and fill in the details which needs to be filled and return back to the post master.Details needed on the form are {sender name;your name and address.}{receiver name and address} 3.Return back to the post master with the cash you are transferring to your partner or friend and wait for the receipt to be returned back to you. 4.Scan the receipt to me and give me a call so my lawyer  can check it if its truly genuine and available in your friend's custody this will just take 30min to confirm from the website. 5.After it has been confirmed on the website,then we can proceed for the viewing.
  
Get back to me asap because i have and a lot of student who re willing to rent the flat and its based on first come first serve basis and let me know when you get the transfer done,  if you can get the transfer done now. then we  can schedule a viewing   ...call me on
+447031857812 so we can  meet up for the viewing.

I will be waiting to hear from you asap

Regards
Mr. Craig
+447031857812