Rental scams warning as man loses €4,000 for Dublin 8 property

Gardai have given a list of warning signs to watch out for when looking for rented accommodation

Gardai are advising people to be wary of rental scams, particularly at this time of year when students are returning to college.

This comes after a number of people reported losing thousands of euro in July alone. An example includes a 30-year-old man who lost €4,000 after he signed a lease for a property in Dublin 8 which he found through a digital letting agency.

The lease was agreed to start on July 1. When the man went to the property to meet the landlord, there was nobody there and he was unable to reach him afterwards.

Gardai have said that it is students who need to be particularly careful however, as the return to college timeframe (August- October) shows an annual spike in accommodation fraud, and over half of the victims are aged under 25.

Examples of rental fraud include:

• The fraudster claims to be out of the country and cannot show the renter the property unless they pay a deposit. The victim pays the deposit and is at the loss of the deposit.
• The fraudster is living in the property and shows a number of people the property, gets a deposit from several people and then disappears with the money.
• The transaction appears normal until the renter finds that the property doesn’t exist, is already occupied or the keys do not work and the landlord has disappeared.