Amber Heddleson was 11 years old the first time she visited London. She fell in love with the city.
“It was only a two-week trip, and we were in London for three days … I told myself, ‘I want to live here!’” Heddleson said.
As a USF St. Petersburg student, living in London wasn’t an option, but studying abroad was. So she made arrangements to do so in fall 2012.
Heddleson decided to pursue off-campus housing, so she posted her information on a website through her host school, Middlesex University. It was called “student pad,” a public forum for people to post their living wants and needs. Because it was through her host school, she figured the forum was safe.
A landlord named Clement Boutielle contacted Heddleson about renting a room in his flat. At 400 English pounds a month, the price was too good to turn down.
“The lease was very renter friendly. My boyfriend and father thought so too,” Heddleson said. Boutielle sent her more than five pictures of the flat, and even gave her the name and contact information of her roommate, another study abroad student.
Heddleson finalized a three-month rental agreement with Boutielle, who asked her to wire the money through Western Union. She used an online payment system called Bluepay that sends money electronically through the bank, then transfers through Western Union to the recipient. Heddleson felt this transaction was more secure than a cash transaction. But the three to five business day waiting period for the money wasn’t fast enough for her landlord.
Two days before Heddleson left for London, Boutielle called her about the rent. Until then, they had only communicated through email.
“He was screaming, ‘I need payment! I need payment! I need payment!’” Heddleson said. “He had a foreign accent … I could barely understand him, but I knew he was yelling at me.”
In a panic, she canceled the electronic transaction, pulled out $1,657 in cash, and sent it via Western Union to the address Boutielle provided. She didn’t want to be homeless in London.
When Heddleson landed in London, she hailed a cab and traveled to 9 Tardwell Place, where she expected to find her home of the next three months. A man answered the door.
“Is Clement there?” she asked.
“There’s no Clement here.”
“Are you sure? Because I am supposed to live here,” she said.
“I live here.” the man replied. “I’ve lived here for a while.”
Heddleson asked the man if there was another Tardwell Place or if he knew anyone named of Clement Boutielle. He answered no to both questions.
That’s when Heddleson realized she’d been scammed.
In the week that followed, Heddleson retraced her steps to see where she went wrong instead of getting acquainted to her new environment before starting classes. What she uncovered shocked her.
She found out that Boutielle had received her money in Scotland. The address he gave her turned out to be an auto shop. The cellphone number he used was registered to an Internet cafe.
A week before leaving for London, Heddleson emailed her roommate, Laura Lee Davies, to introduce herself.
“I thought it was weird that she didn’t email me back, but figured she was just busy preparing to leave, too,” Heddleson said.
A week into the trip, Davies finally replied to the email. She informed Heddleson that she was not her roommate and that someone was using her name and contact information as part of the scam. At least six other people had contacted Davies — all introducing themselves as her future roommate.
Clearly, the scam was common.
Raven Villegras, a USF student and intern at the Education Abroad office in Tampa, had a similar experience. Villegras also fell victim to a Western Union scam.
“I did not realize that I had been scammed till I was standing on the doorstep of my so-called flat,” Villegras said. She lost roughly $1,000 in the scam. Her landlord wasn’t real.
“I was just involved in a string of emails that didn’t amount to anything at all,” she said.
Villegras said she requested pictures for verification and received them. She was told she would have a roommate, but she was never given the person’s name and contact information. She eventually realized it was all made up.
Fortunately, things ended positively for both students. Heddleson met a student from California, who invited her to stay in her dorm for a couple of nights. She used Facebook to reach out to her friends and, eventually, was introduced to a fellow dancer who offered her a room at the flat he shared with his cat.
Villegras found permanent housing with help from Middlesex University. Although she did not live on campus, the university was able to assist her in finding a home with a reputable landlord.
Villegras offers her own advice for those planning to study abroad — investigate your landlord. She says students should always attempt to meet with their potential landlord in person or through Skype to confirm they are real people.
“I never give up, I’m not a quitter,” Heddleson said. “So I stuck through it I found housing. The first night I moved in, I relaxed, sat there, took a deep breath and was like ‘Ok, this is a new beginning.’”
Heddleson feels her experience made her a stronger person.
Villegras believes her experience in London was a “formative, life altering experience,” despite the housing scam.
There are ways to avoid becoming a victim of fraud when studying abroad. The USF Education Abroad website warns students of the Western Union scams and provides links to websites that reveal the most common online scams. Students are also warned of scams at study abroad orientations.
Rene Sanchez, of the USF Education Abroad Department, assists students in planning their trips. He offers the following tips for students who choose to pursue off-campus housing.
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Research the host school’s housing office and stay on top of the deadlines. Some schools may not prompt you when to apply and e-mails might go to junk mail.
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If you are finding your own accommodations, communicate with the host school’s housing office and let them know about the arrangements you’re making. They can often help you spot potential scams that might be common in the area
- If renting an apartment or a room in a shared flat, it is often advisable to make hotel or hostel arrangements for your first few weeks in country, so you can see apartments before putting any money down. The housing office of your host university can often make suggestions to you.
