about thirty visits for an apartment… which is not for rent

Rue de Lamartine, in the 9^e arrondissement of Paris, this Saturday, February 4, nothing looked more quietly banal: Michel W., 31, project manager in events, and his friend, are looking for an apartment. They hope to finally find the one in which they can put furniture and luggage and which will bring them closer to their place of work, after 24 unsuccessful visits. In hollow, especially, an owner who will finally agree to choose them, them, among the crowd of other unhappy suitors. They have a few arguments to put forward: three times the rent in wages, double guarantors, pay slips in shambles, CDI on the set in addition.

The visit promises to be as banal as the day: it is Anaël B. who is in charge. She presses her early thirties alongside visitors, provides information quickly, opens doors, closes windows. The apartment is “to his sister”so she doesn’t have the answer to everything, but on the essentials, this brunette in a hurry reassures and does not denote in her improvised real estate agent costume.

Three months’ rent as a guarantee to be paid by bank transfer

She goes on visits, about thirty, in all. It’s not the deal of the century, of course, but the apartment is bright, well located, and the rent is neither outrageously high nor suspiciously low. The walls have been refurbished, the parquet shines, the bathroom and the kitchen are in perfect condition: the dream life of angels, if we consider the Parisian rental market, where a little better lives alongside a lot of worse, often for the same price. Also, Michel and his half do not delude themselves with excessive illusions: their file is not shameful, but it is not incredible either. If there was better than theirs? This umpteenth apartment visit over, they return to their homes. Who knows ?

The next day, the phone rings. Their file has been retained for the apartment and they can move in almost immediately. Reactive, Anaël B. immediately sends the lease to be signed, as well as a RIB, which will allow them to pay a security deposit of 2,940 euros and pay in advance a first rent of 1,550 euros. Michel, who is of Australian nationality and humbly agrees that certain Franco-real estate considerations may escape him, nevertheless ticks: the lease has not yet been signed, what a strange way to proceed… The apartment nevertheless corresponds to all the criteria that he and his companion had chosen each other, so maybe we shouldn’t see evil everywhere. And above all, do not rob the lessor. He decides to play for time, returns the signed lease but with incomplete information, responds to emails, asks the usual questions.

Curious lease, curious bank, strange “Mme B.”

Michel is also starting some research. It only takes a few clicks for a suspicious bitterness to seize him: Anaël B., whose name is listed on the lease and on the RIB, does not exist on the internet. No trace. Better still: the account that appears in the RIB provided by the latter, on the letterhead of the Crédit Lyonnais agency in Neuilly-sur-Seine Bagatelle, is actually that of a Grenoble bank. Michel looks a little better at his lease: if you look at it twice, apart from the name of the pseudo-lessor and her telephone number, it’s an empty lease, almost blank, similar to the models ready to be filled in, which are legion on the Internet.

Anaël B. is nevertheless charming, patient and a teacher. She answers, empathetic and voluntary, to each of his questions. There’s no real rush anymore. “You will have to read all the pages, she explains patiently, almost warmly, on the phone, in a recording that franceinfo has obtained. You will only make the transfer once the lease has been signed. I initial it and send it back to you, then you will make the transfer.” With the promise of a handover of the keys on February 16.

The apartment does exist, however, Michel tries to convince himself, who still wants to believe that there is certainly a mystery there, but nothing dismally worrying. Maybe we should go back there, ask neighbors, the concierge? Monday, February 6, so as not to offend the lessor, who is awaiting her transfer and who may be in the building, he dispatches his friend James to the scene to question the concierge. Who falls from the clouds.

“I didn’t really understand why so many people were marching that Saturday, I’m usually warned about visits. Especially since I know everyone here. So I went to see this lady, who came was very aggressive and didn’t want to answer my questions. I found that weird…”

Liliane, the concierge

at franceinfo

“When I went back to see her, continues Liliane, she calmed down a bit, and told me that she was renting her sister’s apartment, who had to be away and who was in a difficult situation, on the 6th floor on the left. But I know the tenant in question well, and she would never have proceeded in this way. On a video shot by one of the visitors during a visit, I recognized the apartment in question, and I called the owner.”

An icy shower took with it Michel’s small hopes: the name of Anaël B. is unknown to the owner of the apartment, which is in fact currently rented out to a user of the Airbnb site. The apartment he visited therefore belongs to someone else, Anaël B. does not exist. He and his companion are victims of a scammer.

In the absence of prejudice, the police refuse to receive his complaint

Frightened, Michel rushes to the 9th arrondissement police station to file a complaint. There, he tells his story, screenshot, recording and emails, in support. However, the reception reserved for him is embarrassed: for lack of prejudice, we will not take his complaint, but rather he is advised to file a handrail. He explains that about thirty other unfortunate people who visited the apartment the same day as him are perhaps in the process of being relieved of some 5,000 euros. That the scammer, and his possible accomplices, now have his marital status, his bank details, as well as those of his two guarantors, and that they can use it as he wishes, for example to subscribe in his name consumer credit online: alas, the agent will not take his complaint.

“We were advised to make an appointment at the 10th arrondissement police station, which supposedly has more slots for filing complaints: there were none before Friday. People were being robbed, and nobody wanted to do anything.”

A magistrate friend advises him to go knock on the door of the Clever Crime Repression Brigade, which specializes in cases of breach of trust, scams, abuse of weakness of all kinds.

On Tuesday, February 7, flanked by his friend James, Michel goes to 36, rue du Bastion, in the 17^e district, where the carambouille police and other scams are busy. Unaccustomed to receiving the public directly on their premises, the welcome reserved for the two friends by the BRDA police officers, although friendly, does not denote that of the police station. “They weren’t interested at all, remembers James. However, there was still time to do something, since Michel was still in conversation with the pseudo Mrs. B.”

He insisted. Then the policeman took a step into the office next door. Coming back, sorry, less than a minute later: “They made us understand that they really couldn’t do anything for us, but that there was a solution all the same: the policeman took a piece of paper, scribbled something on it, and handed it to us.“On paper, the email address of the online pre-complaint site. Back to square one. “We were sawn, sighs James. We really thought we weren’t caring.”

Since then, the victims have paraded, annoyed, in the dressing room of Liliane, the building’s concierge. To share their testimonies, they write to each other on a Whatsapp group. Some have wired some or all of the funds demanded by the scammer and don’t know if they will ever see their money again. One of them went to the Levallois-Perret police station, which accepted his complaint.

Contacted on Wednesday February 15 by franceinfo, the Paris police headquarters indicates that it is awaiting elements to respond to our request, before the end of the week.