An Garda Síochána issue student accommodation fraud warning

An Garda Síochána has issued a warning in relation to student accommodation fraud saying there has been an 38% increase in accommodation fraud 2022 compared to 2021 with approximately one third of all accommodation fraud reports occurring during August/September each year.
Over 50% of victims of accommodation fraud are aged under 25 and approximately 55% of victims are female.
Approximately €2 million has been stolen in accommodation fraud in last five years. 

Examples of rental fraud include where the fraudster claims to be out of the country and cannot show the renter the property unless they pay a 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 or 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.
 
The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) have said that some warning signs of fraud include rent that seems too good to be true, accommodation advertised through social media advertisements or if the person letting the location will only communicate via Messenger or WhatsApp.

Other things to watch out for are properties being advertised through unsolicited contact/social media feeds/pop-up advertisements or the contact appears to be based in another jurisdiction and the listing contains grammar or spelling mistakes and limited details or pictures of the property.
The GNECB also said to be wary if asked to pay cash, cryptocurrency or money via a non-bank transfer, if payment is demanded before signing the lease, if the landlord is unable to meet up in person or there is a sense of urgency to secure the accommodation by paying a deposit.

People looking for accommodation are advised to only used recognised letting agencies or sources and to be wary of cloned websites. Renters can ensure a website is real by checking the URL and looking for the trust seals. They should also check the privacy policy, refunds policy as well as the contact details and ideally use a credit card to pay the rent/deposit. 
Renters are also advised never to agree to rent a property without viewed it and ensuring the keys work and you have proper contact details for the landlord/agent as well as ensuring the property is registered with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) (www.rtb.ie).
They also advise meeting with the landlord for a tour of the accommodation and asking for the exact address and verifying the existence of the property by checking Google Maps and can reverse image search any posted images to see if they appear elsewhere on the internet
 
Students are also advised not to hand over cash, not to transfer money via Revolut, not to pay by cryptocurrency and not to send money to a random PayPal address and not to wire money by Western Union. 

They should insist upon a payment receipt and a tenancy agreement and never give personal, financial or security information to persons who are unknown to them.

Incidents reported to An Garda Síochána in July 2023 include a case where a 30-year-old male viewed a digital letting agency and paid a total of €4,000 for a property in Dublin 8 with another incident involving a 20-year-old female who transferred €7,400 to a landlord in the Netherlands for accommodation.

Another case saw a 25-year-old female, who responded to an advertisement regarding an apartment for rent, transfer €1,200 to a Revolut account.

Another case where of fraud involved a 28-year-old female who saw a property online, contacted an agent with a UK registered number via WhatsApp who requested a deposit of €1,236 which was transferred to a bank with a French International Bank Account Number (IBAN).