Postfinance is a bank, run by the post office in Switzerland.

thank you.

I'm about to sublet my place out for a month, and am not sure how to go about collecting a damage deposit from the person who will sublet my place for a month. It's a new apartment, and naturally i'm a tad worried about accidents in the kitchen or when moving new furniture (i'm taking out house/liability insurance but have not got it yet!) I understand it would be dodgy to just send me money as a deposit, so any suggestions from EFers would be appreciated!!
ps: the subletting is between the subletee and me, my agency/landlord are aware of it, but said it was unnecessary to do paperwork just for a month's sublet.

thanks in advance.

Posting this in the apartment deposit scam thread means that you have not bothered to read anything and therefore will not receive any meaningful reply.

Hello everybody,

Now that my husband and I start looking for a bigger apartment, I find this post really helpful. Thank you very much!

The bank account in question is called a 'rental-deposit account', or in German, a 'Mietzins-Kautions-Konto' available at any bank. Usually the landlord opens the account at a bank, and sends you the contract for signature. The money is paid to the landlord, who will transfer it to this special account. Within 20 days you will receive a confirmation from the bank, that your money has been deposited. A yearly statement is sent to you, where the interest is also credite. In Switzerland, the maximum allowed for deposits is 3 monthly rents. An alternative to deposit money in deposit account, is to make an insurance instead at a yearly fee.

Not correct - the deposit should be paid directly into the account and confirmation that the money is on the account sent to the landlord.

Exactly! Money should never go to anyone but the bank.

Also, you can certainly open one yourself. Bring your lease with you to the bank & the bank will know what to do.

Hi everybody,

I was just offered the same scam...but didn't pay, of course

I would like to tell you how to trace the location of the IP address when this email scam comes. Its only a help, the person who does the scam may proxy the email through some Swiss IP address, its not a substitute for common sense
but anyway, this may help to quickly rule out the email of someone claiming to be in X when the IP address of the email clearly shows it belong to some other place, could be some African country, which they are more common, especially from Nigeria:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud

Here's a website that teaches you how to get the IP address from the email, wherever possible. it even has a small form where you put the headers and let you know the ip address:

http://aruljohn.com/info/howtofindipaddress/

Once you have the IP address, check its origin in:

http://www.maxmind.com/app/locate_ip



Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Christian

Do you have to pay for such bank accounts? Can anyone advise on a good bank to go to for someone who doesn't speak German (but English and French) and doesn't necessarily trust his potential landlord too much? Also, any advice on a tactful way to suggest that alternative to cash?

The same appartment scam is also doing the rounds in Geneva. Lovely pictures of a beauiful two bedroom appartment to share with a girl, lots of space, modern fittings, tv, foreign lady owner, who can't get to Geneva, and the price is just way too cheap. Such a lovely appartment, for so little money! It's too good to be true, but you must hurry.

The appartment even has a convenient centre-of-town address (except the house number doesn't exist).

Of couse the old lady won't let her appartment to just anybody, she is very picky, and has chosen you. If you want it, (without seeing it), all you have to do is to send your ID/Passport by scan and to send one month's rent by Western Union to the dear lady in England.

Never EVER send money by Western Union to someone that you don't know well. If someone asks you to send them money by Western Union in return for some service, goods, or whatever, to be delivered in the future, then its a scam. Repeat: ITS A SCAM.

Beware of any "419" scam... Alot of these are based out of Nigeria and use variations of similar tactics...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_fee_fraud


One time I actually played a little trick on one of these buffoons who tried scamming me. I strung him along for about 3 weeks every single day with very over the top naive e-mails which must have had the scammer's mouth watering. Hehehehe... It was good fun.

Oops just noticed Christian posted the same link...

We have contacted some guy from an ad concerning his apartmnet, he said it is no longer available, but wrote that some other apartment in the same building is available and gave me the coordinates of the landlord of that available apartment.
I have snet an email to the landlord (who lives abroad) - I have applied for his apartment and he accepted me - I ahve to emphasize that the price is very attractive and the flat lloks good in the pictures. He has just sent me the contract signed by him with a request to sign it and then send it to him back. Moreover he proposed that I will transfer the first payment through Western Union, and he will send me the keys of the flat via DHL. I do not know what to do since it looks rather strange and non standard, although I am considering to take this risky opportunity.

Even though I am new here in Zurich, I am pretty sure that this is far from being the standard proccedure.

This is a scam and has been discussed before here. Don't transfer anything!!!

It's a scam

No, no, no! Do not do it.

This is definitely a scam!

More knowledgeable posters will follow... keep watching...

Do a search on the forum here and you will see that it is a scam. Stay well away. This is definitely not SOP here to rent an apartment to someone sight-unseen.

http://www.englishforum.ch/housing-g...m-warning.html

Western union? Sending keys by mail? Your feeling is right, It's a scam. You can read this thread for more examples.

DONT send rent/deposit via Western Union - this very much sound like a scam - there is a thread on here somewhere about something similar which i am sure someone will post a link to in the morning. Just don't send any money tonight