‘I was evicted and lost £20,000 in a rent scam’

Sam Read/BBC Craig Spokes is looking at the camera with a serious expression and wearing a white T-shirt with a blue shirt open on top. He is standing in a garden with hanging baskets in the background.Sam Read/BBC
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Craig Spokes is rebuilding his life in Northampton and has a new job after losing almost £20,000

A man said he felt “embarrassed and ashamed” after losing almost £20,000 of his inheritance in a rental scam and being evicted from his flat three weeks after he moved in.

Craig Spokes, 36, from Northampton, paid a year’s rent upfront for a flat in London to Samy Daim, who he believed was the landlord. Yet less than a month after moving in, Mr Spokes was told to leave and all his possessions were left on the street.

Mr Daim, 27, has since not responded to Mr Spokes or to the BBC’s requests for comment.

Action Fraud, the police reporting body for scams, said it was not recommending an investigation into the case.

Instagram Samy Daim wearing a white dressing gown and holding what appears to be an iPad. He is standing by an infinity pool with a city skyline and sunset behind. Instagram

Social media accounts of Samy Daim show pictures of him in luxurious locations around the world

In October 2023, Mr Spokes was looking to move to London after leaving a career as a cruise ship entertainer.

He said Mr Daim had told him he was the landlord of a flat in Bloomsbury, which could be secured for a £500 a month discount if a year’s rent was paid upfront.

Mr Daim was in fact a tenant himself, renting the flat from the real landlord, but he gave Mr Spokes the keys to the property and allowed him to move in.

The BBC has seen court documents that show Mr Daim owed more than £14,000 in rent to the real landlord and this had led to bailiffs being sent to the property.

Instagram Samy Daim standing in a wooden room with an elephant's head coming through the window with its trunk extended upwards and taking food from Mr Daim's hand. Mr Daim is wearing a white T-shirt and smiling as he looks at the elephant.Instagram

Samy Daim’s social media profiles show him on trips to places such as Thailand, where he is pictured with elephants

The flat was listed on a letting agency website, but rather than using the company’s payment system Mr Spokes transferred £19,500 directly to Mr Daim to cover a year’s rent and deposit.

The money had come from his inheritance after his father Barry died of cancer.

Yet as he got ready for work one morning three weeks after moving, Mr Spokes was evicted by bailiffs instructed by the real landlord.

“By 08:30 everything was out on the streets,” he said. “It was a whirlwind and I was in such a state of distress. I was made to feel like a criminal.”

‘Embarrassed and ashamed’

The experience has had a lasting impact on Mr Spokes who said he “felt so embarrassed and ashamed that I had fallen for this scam”.

He said for a period “days would go by and I couldn’t even go out”.

Mr Daim has not responded to Mr Spokes since the eviction. His social media profiles appear to show a jet-set lifestyle.

He has not responded to BBC attempts to contact him.

instagram Samy Daim sitting on top of a white 4x4 vehicle parked beside a beach with  palm trees in the background. Mr Daim is wearing an unbuttoned white shirt with blue trousers and cap.instagram

Samy Daim is listed as the sole director of Cobblestone Realty Group Ltd and shown beside the beach at Key West in Florida

‘Let down’

Mr Spokes was told by the Metropolitan Police to report what had happened to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre.

Action Fraud does not have investigative powers, but assesses which cases to pass on to police forces for investigation.

This case was not passed on and Mr Spokes said he felt “let down” by police and that it had been treated as if it was “not that serious of a crime”.

Action Fraud said reports were assessed against criteria including “the vulnerability of the victim”.

It added that it prioritised “reports most likely to present an investigative opportunity for local police forces, those where a crime is ongoing and those that present the greatest threat and harm to the victim or victims concerned”.

In 2023 Action Fraud classified 5,093 reports as rental fraud.

‘Controls in place’

Mr Spokes said he also felt “let down” by his bank, Kroo, which said it will not repay the money.

Kroo said it has “a number of controls in place to manage financial crime and protect customer funds”.

Sam Read/BBC Pat Coomber-Wood is looking at the camera in an office with a straight face while wearing a top with a flower design on it.Sam Read/BBC

Pat Coomber-Wood from Citizens Advice said people should “slow down” the process of signing a contract

‘Don’t be rushed’

Mr Spokes said he felt like he had “double-checked” everything before transferring the money, but all the information he had been provided “was part of the scam”.

Pat Coomber-Wood, the chief executive officer of Citizens Advice West Northamptonshire and Cherwell, said anyone feeling under pressure to sign a contract should “put the brakes on – it is better to miss out than be scammed”.

She said a land registry search, which costs £3, could determine whether the person you were dealing with owned the property.

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