J1 student warns over widespread rental scam in US

An Irish student has warned her fellow J1 travellers to beware of a widespread rental scam in the US that cost her and her friends almost $5,000 (€4,000).

Leah Hughes, 21, from Clonskeagh in Dublin, had been planning the trip of a lifetime — a summer in Los Angeles with four of her friends.

The group wired $4,750 to a man claiming to own a property in Santa Monica on a reputable rental website, but he pocketed the money and left them with nothing.