A MUM-OF-FIVE has told how she almost lost £1,600 to a fake landlord after looking for a house on Facebook.
Furious Christine Owen Price warned other online house hunters to be vigilant after she was nearly duped into handing over wads of cash.
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The 48-year-old had spotted what she thought would be a perfect home for her teenage son and his pregnant girlfriend.
But it turned out the so-called ‘landlord’ of the three-bed property in Fegg Hayes, Stoke-on-Trent, didn’t even OWN the house.
Christine explained she had shared a post on a local Facebook page asking whether anyone knew of any suitable properties.
The gran-of-10 then received a message from a woman called “Linda”, who claimed she had the ideal home to let.
The fake landlady then suspiciously told Christine she lived out of the area and requested cash upfront as security due to her “bitter experience” of a string of cancelled viewings.
But she assured the 48-year-old the money would be refunded in full if the house was not suitable for her son.
In an error-strewn email, she told Christine: “My bitter past experience of inviting people to come and view or reserve my house and not keeping up to time as at when scheduled, has brought about great loss to me.
“I currently live and work in Canterbury and I would need to take a day off in order to…
