I was looking for a room to rent and i made contact with the "landlord" on easyroomate.com.

Things progressed quickly, with him asking me for personal information regarding the rental etc. I was alright to provide it. But strangely, i felt that he kept repeating himself in the messages because i had already answered the questions! i felt that it was strange because it seemed like he didn't actually read my replies and was giving me canned responses.

despite me asking to view the room, he didn't arrange for one and said that the current tenant was away for christmas and her mum was sick so he didn't when she'll be back. also, he said he didn't have a local bank account because it was undergoing 'linking' with his bank account in london. i know that's rubbish because there's no need to 'link' bank accounts.

the most important details was how he kept pressing me for the rental deposit of 1000 and upfront 2 months rent. i said i'm alright to pay for it and said that i need to set up a recurrent billing with my citibank account and i will need his bank account details and rental contract.

the rental contract came. it seemed to be done up on ms word with poor margins and clipart and the watermark confidential all over it. there is no attorney address or third party signature. there is no mention of landlord's nationality, passport number/ic number etc. the address of the home is generic and does not have a unit number. there are lots of clauses which talk about late payment charges and trying to make it seem very official, however, the language use is quite poor if it were really written by a lawyer.

when i made objections, he wasn't happy to provide more details.

the bank account he gave me was an account in the UK. no local bank account, no local representative and there was an obvious rush for me to transfer the money to him and a lot pressure for me to provide a receipt.

the strangest thing is the name of the account holder. the account is registered to a man called 'innocent aloye'. when i searched it up, there is no such person to have passed the bar in london.

i am glad that i asked all the right questions. this guy wasn't able to answer them and i quickly realised that it was a scam. please be aware of such scams as the pictures provided and the rental cost is very attractive. people who have been looking for rooms for a long time will feel like its the perfect place for them and will rush to put a deposit down to secure it.