'Devastated' Northampton family loses entire house deposit after being 'scammed' on Facebook

A Northampton woman has spoken of her devastation after her family fell victim to rental fraud that saw them scammed out of their entire house deposit.

Marie Harte, 65, has lived in her rented property in Abington with with her partner and her 37-year-old son for four years and now they may have to go into emergency housing after a Facebook marketplace scam left them £1,490 out of pocket.

It all started when, earlier this year, Marie received a letter from her landlord notifying them that their house is going to be put on the market.

Marie said: "We started looking around for a house and saving up. We couldn't find anywhere because it's really busy, this market.

"You go for a house and there's about 15 people going for it. We got desperate. Our move out date was getting nearer and nearer. We needed to be out by late December."

She was scouring Facebook marketplace when a four bedroom house in Northampton caught her eye. It was being rented out for under £800 a month and Marie could not believe her luck.

She exchanged emails with the woman, who had put up the ad. She claimed she had bought the property for herself but work required her to travel to Europe so she will be spending the next two years in Amsterdam.

She said that she initially tried to sell the house but, after many conversations with her husband, she decided that it is not profitable to sell it 'due to the Corona situation.'

She then went on to tell Marie that 'it's difficult these days to find someone who is honest' as she flew to the UK a couple of weeks ago because a family told her they were interested in renting the property and then they were a no-show.

In an email seen by The Chronicle & Echo, the woman told Marie: "I want to come to meet you but you have to understand that this experience has brought me huge inconveniences and left me with a bitter taste, so I prefer to use a worldwide property management company."

She suggested that they make the transaction for the house rental deposit on the popular holiday rental website, Airbnb, because they would both be 'protected' by the website's policies.

Marie had received pictures of the house from the woman as well as a photograph of the woman's passport and she had looked up the profile of the 'landlady' on Facebook. She clicked through the 'Airbnb' link emailed to her by the woman and there her name was next to the property, marked as a 'superhost'. Airbnb has since told the Chron that this was a fake link and was not a genuine link from the company.

Marie was satisfied at the time that she did everything she could, given the time-sensitive situation she was in, to verify the authenticity of the property ad.

She said: "I thought it is a reputable company surely. I've read a lot about it and they said if you don't like the house, you get everything back so I thought great I'll do that then. I went through the bank and paid by card."

She was yet to find out that, to her horror, she had been sent a false link imitating the Airbnb website. The transaction had absolutely nothing to do with the online marketplace.

Marie, along with her partner, went to meet the 'landlady' at around 11.30am on Friday, December 3 at the property. On approaching the house, Marie noticed the house looked 'a bit different' on the outside compared to the advertisement she saw on Facebook marketplace.

The landlady told her that she would meet Marie outside the house- she was not there. Marie knocked on the door and a woman answered, who told her that she was the owner of the house and that it was not up for rent. She added that this was not the first time she had people come to her house, believing they had paid a deposit on it and she was trying to get to the bottom of it.

Marie, describing what happened after hearing the bombshell news, said: "I burst out crying and ran to the car to tell my partner what had happened. He immediately phoned the police, they put him through to the fraud team and we are still waiting to hear what's going on.

"Meanwhile, we got in touch with our bank to see if we could stop the bank transfer but it was too late and the bank said there was nothing they could do so now we have nowhere to live, no deposit to put on another house and have to get out of this one."

Marie, who is disabled and cannot work, had already endured a harrowing year after her sister suffered a bad stroke and heart attack and her husband had to have an emergency heart operation. She also lost her mother to breast cancer this time last year after caring for her in her Abington home for three years.

She added: "I held her when she died. I've had a terrible year so I've got all that on my mind as well.

"I would advise people to just stuck with estate agents. Stick to people you know you can trust. I didn't go and look at the house. I should have done that. If I had gone up there and made sure, it would not have happened. If I had my right head on, I would have made sure it was a house to start off with. We would have found out it was a scam.

"I am just so upset."

Marie now wants to share her story to make sure others do not fall victim to similar scams online.

The Chronicle & Echo approached Airbnb with screenshots of the email booking confirmation allegedly sent to Marie on their behalf.

In response, senior corporate and policy communications manager at Airbnb, Metin Parlak, said: "The screenshots are of a fake booking confirmation. None of this happened on Airbnb - this is a Facebook Marketplace issue involving their users.

"We provide information on how to identify a genuine Airbnb link or email. People can report suspicious websites to us at https://reportphishing.net/airbnb/, and we work with third parties to investigate and report them for removal.

"We ask users to only communicate and pay on Airbnb and we handle payments through our secure payment service only. It’s not possible to pay for a booking through Airbnb by bank transfer."

The same property has since reappeared on Facebook marketplace under a new name.

Northamptonshire Police has confirmed that they are investigating this as a case of rental fraud and have asked The Chronicle & Echo to share the following advice:

◾ Do not send money to anyone advertising rental properties online until you are certain the advertiser is genuine.

◾ If you need to secure accommodation in the UK from overseas, seek the help of the employer or university you are coming to, or get a friend, contact or relative to check the property exists and is available.

◾ Do not pay any money until you or a reliable contact has visited the property with an agent or the landlord.

◾ Ask for copies of tenancy agreements and any safety certificates such as Gas Electricity or HMO Licence.

◾ Do not be pressurised into transferring large sums of money. Transfer funds to a bank account having obtained the details by contacting the landlord or agent directly after the above steps have been followed. Be sceptical if you’re asked to transfer any money via a money transfer service like Western Union.

If you believe fraud has been committed, report it to Action Fraud.