There were 12 cases of accommodation fraud reported to gardaí last month, with the victims scammed out of more than €20,000.
Gardaí have issued a warning to people to be wary of rental scams, particularly at this time of year when students are returning to college.
Rental fraud occurs when a victim pays money to rent accommodation, typically in the form of a deposit, and subsequently discovers the transaction was fraudulent.
Gardaí said 12 victims reported losses of €20,746 during July. The largest amount was €3,685 and the smallest was €380. At least eight of them were deceived through social media or online adverts or contacts.
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Ten of the victims were Irish-based and lost €15,231. Two foreign-based victims were moving to Ireland and they lost €5,515 between them.
Gardaí said there was a fall of 11 per cent in reports of accommodation fraud in the year to the end of June.
It said just 30 per cent of victims tend to be Irish. Approximately one-third of all accommodation fraud reports occur during August and September. A third of victims of accommodation fraud are under 25 years old, while 66 per cent of victims are under 33 years old.
Among the danger signs highlighted by gardaí is when 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.
“Someone offering accommodation that seems very cheap, that’s the first thing to look out for,” said Det Superintendent Michael Cryan. “Unfortunately, as we all know at this stage, there is no such thing as cheap accommodation any more.”
Doing some wider research on the property, area and landlord can be important too when guarding against fraud, he said.
Checking typical rates in an area on the Residential Tenancies Board’s rent index is one basic way of seeing if something being offered is too good to be true, he noted. People should be wary, too, of prospective landlords taking little interest in who is going to live in their property, as they focus instead secure on securing quick upfront payment, often by way of lodgments to overseas bank accounts or by using vouchers or crypto currency.
“A proper landlord will have lease agreements and should accept reasonable, secure methods of payment but they will also want to do their research on you, to make sure you are who you say you are and that you will be able to pay the rent,” said Det Supt Cryan.
Victims are predominantly young and the desperation to secure somewhere in time for the start of the new academic year can lead to people dropping their guards.
The amounts involved can vary substantially, he said, but the loss of a few hundred euro can be a terrible blow to a family already struggling with the costs of a member going to college.
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