I am going to study in kit university in October and a am In the process of finding an apartment and this is the contract is signed for the apartment I found I have send the deposit and the first months rent but the landlord says she hasn't received it yet am I scammed or is this a banking issue. The person where I send the IBAN and the name of her on the contract is different she says it's her lawyer. What

by nescafe-7

18 comments

  1. !housing

    Reposting my comment again, hope you’ve managed to anonymise properly now.

    Read those Wiki pages, particularly the second one.

    Yes, this is a scam.

    People don’t have their rent payment collected by lawyers. Most likely, you sent your money to a mule that the scammer is using.

    The “contract” is absurd. It’s Google-translated. We don’t have “friedlicher Genuss” here, as a translation of “peaceful enjoyment”. Friedlicher Genuss would mean eating your chocolate cake in peace. Funnily, that section actually tells you to do things that disturb others and harm them physically.

    That illegible seal (not German) and the “Approved” stamp are hilarious.

    And yes, it is 100 percent a scam. No German landlord sends you a Google-translated contract that tells you to commit crimes. There is no agency in Germany that “approves” rental contracts. If there was, they would not use some US-looking fake seal and an English-language “APPROVED” stamp.

  3. Yes, you are being scammed. Do not send any money to this person anymore, and don’t expect a flat to be ready for you. I’m very sorry, but sadly, this happens frequently here.

  5. Yep, scam. Your money’s gone. If anyone here DMs you and tells you they can recover it for you, they’re scammers as well.

    Sorry OP.

  6. I’m sorry but you were scammed. Report this to the police, but the chances you will never see the money again are high.

    Whenever there is a mention of a lawyer it is usually a scam.

  7. Just to be sure, cause I didn’t see anyone mention it yet.

    If you have to pay something in advance it’s a scam. You pay your first rent on the agreed date, after you got the keys. You pay the deposit together with the first rent, or split between the first 3 months of renting.

  8. tbh that approved stamp is very sketchy. sorry for your loss

  9. it’s APPROVED and has a golden seal jpeg. How can it possibly not be a scam?!

    talk to your bank immediately

  10. oh no, why would you pay before getting the keys or at least verifying the house before even sending money????

  11. Yes it is a scam. Immediately talk to your bank and report that to the police. Chances you get the money back are slim, but worth trying

  13. I’m sorry this happened to you. Since your german is not that good, next time you want to sign a legally binding contract ask here please

  14. I’m so so sorry for your monetary loss…but that seal with the photoshopped “approved” stamp at the end is so fucking funny…

  15. §12 “Friedliches Genuss” is super broken German. That seal is also a weird as hell.

    I’m sorry, OP. Looks like you learned a life lesson.

  16. Rule Nr 1: never send any money to anyone over the internet… I’m suprised every time people still fall for this kinda scam

  18. 100% a scam. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, weird formatting, a missing third paragraph, unusual idioms (google translate?) and a weird stamp.

Comments are closed.