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A man from Northampton has lost almost £20,000 in a rental scam and was subsequently evicted from his flat only three weeks after moving in. Craig Spokes, 36, paid for a year’s rent upfront for a Bloomsbury flat in London to Samy Daim, who he believed was the landlord. However, Mr Spokes was told to leave, and all of 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. The flat was 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.
According to court documents, Mr Daim owed more than £14,000 in rent to the actual landlord and because of this, bailiffs came to the property. Mr Daim is a tenant himself, renting the flat from the real landlord. Mr Spokes got the keys to the property and moved in. Action Fraud, the police reporting body for scams, has said as it was not recommending an investigation into the case.
Mr Spokes was previously a cruise ship entertainer and was looking to move to London following the conclusion of his contract in October 2023. Mr Daim told him that he was the landlord of the flat in Bloomsbury, which could be secured for a £500 a month discount if a year’s rent was paid upfront. However, he gave Mr Spokes the keys to the property and allowed him to move in. The money had come from his inheritance after his father Barry died of cancer.
Mr Spokes highlighted feeling “embarrassed and ashamed that I had fallen for this scam” and that for a period “days would go by and I couldn’t even go out”. Action Fraud told him to report what had happened, but they did not pass on the case. The bank from which Mr Spokes transferred the payment, Kroo, has stated it will not reimburse him
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