Gardaí warn of 'red flags' after French student is duped out of €3,000 in Cork rent scam

The student arrived at 'her' new apartment to discover tenants already there, and that she had transferred her money to an anonymous fraudster with no connection with the property

Gardaí have again issued a list of 'red flags' for prospective tenants to watch out for. See the complete list at the foot of this article. Stock picture

A French student who arrived in Ireland in recent weeks was defrauded of over €3,000 in an accommodation scam.

In a warning to other students about similar scams, gardaí have shared details of the woman's ordeal, stating that they met with her on September 3 — just two days before she was due to begin her studies in Cork.

“Prior to coming to Cork she had posted on a Facebook group looking for accommodation,” explained a garda spokesperson.

“She was messaged by a male who informed her his landlord had a room for rent.” 

The man gave details of the landlord, who happened to be French-Irish, and provided a French phone number.

“She proceeded to contact him and after some discussion paid him via bank transfer over €3,000 for a deposit and two month's rent,” the spokesman added.

However, when she arrived at the rental property advertised, “the door was answered by a resident there who said there was no room for rent and that the name she had was not the name of the landlord”.

It follows a spate of similar instances in Cork city, with 26 accommodation scams reported so far this year which have scammed victims out of over 60,000.

The woman joined a Facebook group to seek accommodation in Cork city.

“These losses have included domestic incidents and also incidents from this jurisdiction to another,” said the spokesperson.

Listing other incidents in Cork city, two students paid €2,200 for non-existent accommodation, while another was scammed out of €1,200.

Another student paid over €2,800 as a deposit for a property but discovered the house had been sold to new owners.

Other examples of accommodation fraud given were students seeking Erasmus housing abroad, or holiday accommodation.

Gardaí have urged people to spot “red flags” when seeking accommodation, including:

• When the landlord is unable to meet up to show you the property in person;  
• If all communication with the landlord is solely through text/WhatsApp or other social media platforms;  
• Cloned sites — where a website looks exactly like a legitimate site, but with very small changes in the web address; 
• When the property is offered with no questions asked and payment is demanded immediately before any lease is signed;  
• When you are asked to pay cash, cryptocurrency, or money via a non-bank transfer (such as wire transfer).

An Garda Síochána advise prospective tenants to never agree to rent a property without first having an opportunity to view it, and to never hand over cash and to ask for a proper receipt.

They are also urging people to ensure that the keys work and you have proper contact details for the landlord/agent.