and the youngest is 4 months old. I most recently took time off work in order
to have time to nurse my youngest child.
Having being served with a quick repossession notice since September 2016 by my
current private landlord, and on the verge of being homeless by 14/11/2016 as
per the deadline given on the notice for me to vacate the flat I currently live
in, and as Newham London Council could not do much to help my situation with
housing, out of desperation and despair contacted my ex-boyfried whom I still
maintain good relation with and pleaded with him to help me search for a 1
bedroom apartment in Newham London at reasonable rent price.
On Thursday 27/10/2016 at about 11am, my ex rang me on my mobile phone and said
he had found a 1 bedroom flat in Manor Park advertised online at gumtree.com
£700pm and £700 deposit, which would be available on 4th November 2016. He
explained to me that he had spoken to a man by the name Imran on the mobile
phone number posted with the advert and secured a viewing appointment with him
for 6pm. He said the man sent him the full address of the property via text
message as Flat 83 Warrior Square, Manor Park E12 5RR. He then texted me the
url link
(https://www.gumtree.com/p/1-bedroom-rent/one-bedroom-flat-in-manor-park/1195904100)
of the advert so I could look it up online at my end.
Later in the evening at about 5:55pm, as arranged my ex-boyfriend and I arrived
together outside a block of flats (fob-gated numbered 73 – 107 Warrior Square).
Upon arriving the front of the fob-gated block of flats, my ex-boyfriend
severally telephoned Mr. Imran on both the mobile phone numbers posted with the
flat advert and the one he had used to text him the full address details, to
let him know that we were at the address but no answer. After a while at 6:20pm
Imran rang back on my ex-boyfriend’s mobile and said he was running late
because he had been to his other property in Canning town (also advertised on
gumtree.com under Imran’s Gumtree account) to attend to some clients viewing
the property. He promised to be with us in about 15 minutes.
A few minutes later at about 6:45pm a man in grey suit emerged and approached
us. He introduced himself as Imran and asked us if we were there to view the
flat and apologized for being late. He was bald, bearded, Asian (potentially
Pakistani origin) with British accent and between 30 and 36 years old. Upon him
approaching the 73-107 Warrior Square front fob-gated Entrance he reached for
the buzzer intercom panel on the gate and called number 83. After calling 83
someone opened the gate from inside and allowed us access into the premises of
the block of flats. Imran then led us into inside flat 83. Upon arriving at
inside the flat, I saw a black African lady emerge from inside the bathroom
with a little boy that looked like she had just bathed. Imran led us into the
lounge area and told me and my ex to feel free and start viewing. I started
viewing around inside the flat and when I approached the bedroom I observed
that the lady I had seen earlier with a child was inside the bedroom clothing
the child, so it felt a bit awkward and I was hesitant to go inside whilst she
was there. Imran and the lady then encouraged me to go inside the bedroom and
view, saying something like “it’s fine come in” she’s cool go inside”. The lady
even helped brighten the light of the room using the switch on the wall. I then
went inside the bedroom and viewed it.
After viewing the whole flat my ex-boyfriend and I went and sat round the table
with Imran in the lounge. He placed on the table a pen and A4 paper which had
been handed to him by the same black African lady. He then asked me what I
thought about the flat to which I responded like “it’s nice I’d take it”. He
then told me not to worry too much about the state of the bathroom as he
intended to fix it once the current occupier had moved out on Thursday
03/11/2016 to which I responded like “ok no problem”. He asked me a series of
other questions as any normal private landlord would ask. He discussed with me
the terms and principle of his tenancy agreement. He asked for £700.00 one
month rent and £700.00 deposit. At this point in time, my ex intervened and on
my behalf negotiated the amount of the deposit to £350.00, to which Imran
hesitantly agreed. Eventually Imran asked for £250.00 commitment deposit which
would be non-refundable, for him to take the flat off the market and that I
would need to come back the next day Friday 28/10/2016 with the balance of
£800.00 along with my original Passport and its colour photocopy and proof of
my current address to secure the flat.
Hence I implored my ex to lend me the money as I did not have any money on me
at the time. He then asked Imran where he could find the nearest ATM to
withdraw the cash. Imran gave him a direction to a post office’s ATM down the
road. As my ex was leaving for the ATM, Imran told him to call 83 on the buzzer
panel downstairs when he returned. Within 15 minutes my ex buzzed from
downstairs hence Imran answered the door buzzer and opened the door for him to
come in. upon my ex returning back inside the flat with the cash, he handed the
money to me which I counted and confirmed it to be £250.00 before immediately
handing it to Imran. Imran took the cash and wrote a receipt for it receipt
which he handed to me. We subsequently agreed 7pm as the best time I would
return to the flat next day, Friday to hand him the requested documentation and
£800.00 balance and sign the Tenancy Agreement. He asked me what date I would
like to move in to which I said “next week Saturday”. On this occasion I was
inside the flat for at least 50 minutes.
On Friday 28/10/2016 at about 6:55pm, I was back at 73 – 107 Warrior Square E12
5RR as agreed. This time I went alone as my ex-boyfriend was unavailable to
accompany me. While standing outside the fob-secured entrance of the block of
flats, I telephoned Imran from my mobile phone to let him know I was outside
waiting. He answered the phone call and told me he was already inside the flat
thus he directed me to call 83 on the entrance fob panel so he could let me in.
I called 83 as he had directed me and he opened the door, so I went inside the
premises. Upon me arriving inside flat 83, I could see that Imran was the only
one inside the flat. He led me into the lounge and asked me to take a sit. He
then brought out a tenancy agreement and a receipt and placed them on the
table. Then he asked me if I had any concerns or would like to ask him any
question about the flat to which I said “not really, I just want to know what
time you want me to come and collect the keys next week Friday?” Hence, he
asserted that “the current occupier will vacate the flat on Thursday 03/11/2016
so you can come and collect the keys next week Friday 5pm.”
Therefore, he asked me for my documentation. I handed him my passport and
National ID card along with their colour photocopies as he had requested. He
momentarily examined them before handing back my passport and National ID card
to me. He kept the colour photocopies. He then completed the Tenancy Agreements
entering his name, address and signature where applicable. After he had
finished writing on the tenancy agreements, he handed them with a pen to me and
told me to write my name, current address and signature in the section he had
asterisked, so I did. After completing the tenancy agreement, he gave me one
copy and kept the other copy for himself. It was at this point in time I handed
him £800 in cash and he immediately issued a receipt for the payment.
Having done that, I stood up to start making my way out of the flat. On this
second occasion I had been inside the flat for at least 40 minutes. Everything
seemed normal. Nothing gave me any slightest suspicion that anything could go
wrong.
On my way out of the flat, Imran leading me to the door, shook my hand and said
“see you next week Friday, have a nice weekend.” To which I replied as “ok
thank you, bye.” I then left the flat leaving Imran still inside flat.
I would soon realise that I was going to attend a friend’s baby’s naming
ceremony on Friday 04/11/2015 at 4pm thus I thought I would be unable to return
from the naming ceremony in time for 5pm to collect the flat’s keys from Imran
as initially planned. Hence, on Thursday 03/11/2016 at about 3pm I started
calling both telephone numbers I had for Imran in order to inform him of the
development and see if I could meet him much earlier than 4pm and collect the
keys. Several calls I made to both numbers up till 6pm did not ring- they were
just going straight to voicemail. Though anxious and a little bit worried, I
decided to let space for a while and ring back later thinking he might be busy
somewhere so his mobile phones switched off. Two hours later I repeatedly
called his mobile numbers again still to no avail- both switched off and going
straight to voice mail.
At this point in time I became increasingly restless and extremely worried. I
had this daunting feeling telling me something was not right. I desperately
rang my ex on his mobile phone and told him of the situation. He calmed me down
and told me to let it till Friday morning and if I still did not get through to
Imran by then he would go to the flat himself and investigate what was going
on. However, I continued to severally call the mobile numbers up till about
11pm to no avail until I finally called it a day.
It was the longest night of my entire life. On Friday morning at 8am, I started
calling Imran’s phone numbers again. In fact I lost count of how many times I
severally called both mobile numbers to no avail. At about 8:30am I rang my ex
again and told him that I had still not been able to get through to Imran. My
ex confirmed that he had equally called the two mobile numbers severally to no
avail. He then assured me that he would be making his way straight to the flat
before going to work therefore we arranged to meet up at the address for
9:30am.
I went and met my ex outside 73 -107 Warrior Square at about 9:35am. Upon us
approaching the entrance door, my ex reached for the fob/buzzer panel and
called 83. There was no answer the first time he called. He called again the
second time and we soon heard a man’s voice through the buzzer panel. “Hello
who’s this?” asked the voice. “Delivery” replied my ex. The voice again queried
“from which courier company please?” “Hermes” responded my ex. The man then
asked him to wait a moment. After 10 seconds the man on the other end of the
intercom buzzer opened the door and we went inside the block of flats. Upon
approaching the door of flat 83, a black African male, about 31 to 37 years of
age, in brown pajamas that looked like Jubba Thobe, emerged from inside the
flat with the door partly closed behind him. My ex approached him and explained
to him that we had come to see Mr. Imran purportedly the private landlord of
the flat which was advertised on gumtree.com for rent. To my dismay the man
retorted “there is no any landlord here! There is no any Imran here. I am the
council tenant here; this is my flat!”
My ex further explained to him that he and I had been inside the flat with
Imran on two different occasions last week Thursday and Friday, and that we had
seen a black African lady and a child inside the flat on the first occasion we
came and viewed the flat. I also told the man that I had handed cash to Imran
inside the flat for rent and was under impression the current tenants would
have moved out yesterday.
Acting baffled, the man retorted “I don’t know what you are talking about. This
is a council property and I’m the council tenant here. I’ve been living here
since August this year. I swapped this flat on council housing from Coventry.”
My ex again asked him if he had most recently reported break-in of the flat to
the police or Newham Council. “No!” replied the man, before going back inside
and shutting the door on us.
Shaken and distraught I began to suspect that I had been scammed. At this point
in time, my ex reached for his mobile phone and dialed 999 to report the
incident as a suspected fraud. He was advised by the operator that the police
could not attend the situation as it was not ongoing or about to happen.
However, we immediately proceeded to Forest Gate Police Station where we
reported the incident. The duty officer reiterated the advice of that of the
emergency controller and did not formally take a statement, although she gave
us a ActionFraud website to report the crime.
I have since not heard from this purported Imran. I now fear the worse that I
may never ever get my money back in the face of my current difficult
circumstances and on the verge of being homeless.
This purported Imran would not have been able to carry out this terrible scam
without the prior knowledge of the residents of this flat. I have no doubt in
my mind that the scam was premeditated and well conspired with the residents or
an occupier of the flat who would have been an acquaintance of him. It is not a
coincidence that a black African lady with a child let Imran in into the flat
on the first occasion I was there with my ex to view the flat and that Imran
was already inside the flat on the second occasion I was there staying 40 to 50
minutes inside on two different occasions in two successive days. There is
definitely no smoke without fire.
I implore anyone that may have whatever piece of information that can help
identify these callous culprits and successfully bring them to justice so they
will not have to do this to anyone else, to contact the police on 101 or
ActionFraud on 0300 123 2040 quoting Crime Reference Number: NFRC161101616804.
You can also contact Newham Council Fraud Department quoting reference
OTHFRAUD2380765