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GARDAÍ ARE PROBING a new rental scam targeting Brazilian and other immigrants which has seen a number of people conned out of significant amounts of money in Dublin city centre.
One Brazilian couple has contacted gardaí in Dublin’s north inner city after he and his girlfriend were tricked to pay out €1,000.
They had met with somebody purporting to be renting an apartment in the Smithfield area last week and believed they had completed a deal which would see the couple move in the following week. They were told they had to wait for the current tenant to leave.
The deposit was handed over in cash and what they described as ‘a legitimate-looking lease’ was signed.
However, when the week passed, the couple called the alleged scammer and asked when the tenant was going to move out as they were due to leave their home and would have nowhere to stay if there were a delay. They were promised that the man was vacating the property in the next 48 hours.
The man then stopped taking the calls despite his number and social media still being active. The couple TheJournal.ie spoke to said they have reported the incident to gardaí. as they want to warn other people.
The couple has photographs of the man who has taken their money and they have been given to gardaí.
Meanwhile, gardaí have urged all prospective tenants to be cautious when entering a new lease and to never hand over cash as it is untraceable.
A spokesman said: “We would advise before engaging in a financial transaction to pay down a deposit and/or rent, that you see the property first and establish that the person renting it owns and has access to the property. It is advisable to use an ESCROW account where possible to ensure funds are not released until you are certain that it is a legitimate transaction.
“Where you believe you have been a victim of such a fraud, please report to your local Garda station/police station if you reside outside Ireland.”
Rental scams generally fall into three broad categories:
Housing charity Threshold has also warned against rental scams and offered people advice on what to do if they suspect something is too good to be true.
Spokesman John-Mark McCafferty said rental scams occur throughout the year and there are a number of things people should look out for.
He said: “We strongly advise people to be cautious of a landlord who claims to be out of the country and can’t show you the property and requests a deposit. Would-be renters should also be mindful that in some instances a scammer could be living at the property and showing a number of people around, getting a deposit from several people and then disappearing with the money.
“In other instances, the transaction appears normal until the renter finds that the keys don’t work and the ‘landlord’ has disappeared. People need to establish that the house exists, that it is available for rent, the identity of the landlord /agent and that the person advertising the property is authorised to rent it out.”
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I know plenty of people who have been robbed by dodgy landlords. Plenty.
@vfagan: In this case it was someone purporting to be a landlord.
@Michael Carolan: yeah I got that.
New scam? Pretty sure this has been a thing for decades.
Ha ha. Hilarious. If the government didn’t rob the landlord so much it would be all totally above board. That’s what happens
@pearse: Right, so it’s all the governments fault? Landlords are all lovely people and charging modest rents and not taking advantage?
@pearse: Hilarious that a couple were conned into paying 1000 euro? Strange what you find funny….
@pearse: this couple could be now living on the street and you find that funny?
@pearse: oul PEARSE is obviously a toffee nosed landlord himself
@pearse: you have a very low sense of humour. There is nothing hilarious.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: and all tenants pay their rent on time and never damage anything.
@SFNutters: So if a minority of tenants are slow to pay their rent or damage something that gives the whole industry a licence to charge exorbitant rents.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: you do realise this isn’t about landlords, but scam artists…. I’m not sticking up for landlords, but your point seems ‘off’
@Sinead Spain: Simple really, responding to the OP. That’s the thing about public comments and forums, they tend to go “off”, as you call it. Just look at the comments posts on a lot of the news stories here. Or maybe my opinion doesn’t suit….
Well, it’s easy to say that, but when people are desperate and coming from the other side of the world, they believe anything they’ve been told. Scammers like this deserve good beating down…
@• BitShark Crypto •: not in this country, they’ll get a suspended sentence to run concurrently with their other charges.
So where are the photos of the scammer? No point in the Gardai having them, they will not do anything.
@Bren Guiden:
Perhaps Daft should have a ‘ Rental Scammers’ section where those defrauded, or even the Gardai, could place pictures and descriptions of known scammers plus big bold warnings about the wicked ones and their ways.
Award winning journalism!
“The couple TheJournal.ie spoke to said they have reported the incident to gardaí. as they want to warn other people.”
@Daniel O’Connor: yea it’s shocking, you could nearly forgive them if it was breaking news they needed to get out in a hurry, but this age old scam….
Serious amount of Brazilians in Ireland now all the same.
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: what’s the point in that comment?
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: I don’t quite get your comment. I’m Brazilian and lived in Ireland a couple years ago. Yes, there are a lot of Brazilians there. There wasn’t a day I couldn’t hear people speaking Portuguese at the city centre.
So, what’s your point exactly?
@Guilherme Taffarel Bergamin: Ciarán has a problem with immigrants. He comes on here every day with some innuendo about the country being swamped, or overrun or whatever. Never produces any figures to back up his dog whistles.
@Hugh Davison: Nah you’ve mixed me up with someone else. Just making a point that there’s loads of Brazilians, considering how far away the country is and how different the culture and weather is! 15 years ago there were loads of Polish. Just making an observation so don’t try make it out as if I have a problem with immigrants. What I do have a problem with is people living off the state for free, however.
@Hugh Davison: Actually that’s annoyed me to say that, as I’ve never given out about immigrants or make any innuendos regarding such so get a grip. I’m also not on everyday, nor comment everyday.
@Guilherme Taffarel Bergamin: they need a 90 day visa
@Ciarán O’ Donoghue: your right a lot of Braxillians are here on Portugese passports. Most overstay their visa.
Brazalian couple has their picture handed to garda why not publish his picture to aware other innocent people.
@Paddy Power: from what I get, it is still under investigation. Garda won’t give this kind of material to media before it’s being fully proved
Out if interest, has anyone in Ireland ever used an ESCROW account when handing over a deposit for rented accommodation in Ireland? Genuinely curious as someone who rented numerous places over the years.
I thought the deposit was far too low, that would have rang alarm bells for me.
@elgillie: they were Brazilian. €1k is a lot of money for us Brazilians, believe me. €1k feels in our pockets 4x or 5x more than it does to people who earn in Euro.
There is also the relaxation of being in an European country. We are used to scams in Brazil and we learn since we are children that in Europe and North America you are a lot less likely to be robbed or being victim of some injustice.
So yeah… They did believe the scammer and I’m not surprised. They trusted too much and learnt that humans can be a problem anywhere.
As we say here, “humans are the worst kind of people”.
E1000.00 deposit ? you’d have thought the con man might have shaved a bit off for the couple !!!
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