I have been recently looking to rent a house from a private landlord and so posted a wanted ad on gutree.com. Anyway, i got many responses but here is what most of them have said -

''Can i know the exact day or time you will like to view ? I need to know, so that i can re-schedule my movement, I will need to see your financial reference before viewing which is very important, and this will be Wester Union Receipt.

this is how you will get it ready. Locate any western union location around you, Transfer the sum of a 2 months rent ( 1150pounds) to a friend of yours or your partner as the receiver, Western Union will give you transfer receipt, Scan and Send the transfer receipt to Me through my email, I will get it and confirm it.

NOTE: Plss. Tell Western Union Official to Place a Hold on the money, so that it can be picked up by the receiver alone, because Me and my lawyer will need to confirm it with these information:
Sender name
Receiver name
MCTN Control Number

Then, Western Union will charge you some amount for transfer, do not worry, I will refund it back to you when ever we meet for viewing.''

I am pretty suspicious of this and am sure that this may be a scam of some sort - especially as the prices they are offering to rent the propeties for are lower than average of most homes in this area.

Can someone please let me know if they have come accross something similar and if this is indeed a scam as i suspect it to be.

Thanks in advance