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Accommodation Carlow/Wexford Campuses
Accommodation Fraud

What is accommodation fraud?

There is rental fraud and reservation fraud. It can be long term, i.e. a student renting accommodation for a year or short term i.e. a person renting an apartment or Airbnb or a hotel room for a weekend break. Both could involve Irish residents seeking the accommodation in Ireland or abroad or a foreign national seeking accommodation in Ireland.

There are four main variations of each - but these are continually evolving.

  • Offering accommodation that doesn’t exist though social media.
  • Offering accommodation that they are not entitled to offer.
  • Taking deposits from more than one prospective tenant.
  • Cloned sites and/ or totally fraudulent websites.

There are other terms used in the area of accommodation fraud namely:

Rental Fraud: Occurs when a victim pays a deposit in advance to rent an accommodation and subsequently discovers that the transaction is fraudulent because the person has no authority to lease the property.

Reservation Fraud Occurs when a person pays for a property or room and subsequently discovers that the transaction is fraudulent. For example, the property doesn’t exist or staff at the property have no record of the booking.

Advice

  • Do your own research on the advertisement and on the property.
  • Only use recognised letting agencies or deal with people who are bona fida and trustworthy such as the University or the Students’ Union.
  • Be wary of cloned websites. Ensure the site is real, check the URL and look for the trust seals. Check the site’s privacy policy, refunds policy section, contact sections, even for spelling errors.
  • Know your consumer rights. They are protected if you use a legitimate site.
  • If you have decided to enter into a rental agreement and are required to pay a deposit only use trusted money transfer systems. An Garda Síochána would recommend using a credit card. 
  • Never agree to rent a property without first having the opportunity to view it in person.
  • Ideally, meet with the landlord for a tour of the accommodation. If this is not possible for some reason such as the landlord being out of the country but still requests a deposit you must exercise extreme caution. 
  • Ask for confirmation of ownership such as the landlords driving licence or passport with a utility bill to confirm ownership of the property.
  • Ensure that the keys work and you have proper contact details for the landlord/agent.
  • Ideally the property should be registered with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). This can be checked on their website.
  • Fully research the area to find out what the average rental costs are and compare these to the advertisement or rental agreement.
  • Ask for the exact address or Eircode and verify the existence of the property. Check Google maps to see that the property is the same as that advertised. Reverse image search any posted images to see if they appear elsewhere on the internet
  • Do not hand over cash, make a revolut payment, transfer money to an account, pay by cryptocurrency or itunes vouchers. 
  • Only ever pay in a way that is traceable and / or refundable. Check with your Bank or Credit Union for their recommendations before making any payments.
  • Insist upon a proper receipt and a tenancy agreement (get someone to look at it if you are unfamiliar with tenancy agreements).
  • Don’t enter into off site negotiations for a lower cash price.
  • Never give your personal, financial or security information to persons who are unknown to you.
  • Be wary if a website is asking you to send money to a random PayPal address or asking you to wire it by Western Union or pay in iTunes gift cards. Similarly exercise caution if you are asked to pay for long-term rental accommodation via a short-term letting website or if this website only deals in cryptocurrency. Those methods are usually requested by fraudsters to avoid scrutiny and ensure that a transaction cannot be reversed.
  • Always report your suspicious to Gardai and if necessary ask your bank to arrange an immediate recall of your funds paid.

What should you look out for?

There are a number of red flags / warning signs:

  • If the rent seems too good to be true then it probably is. In a housing shortage there is no such thing as cheap accommodation readily available especially in urban areas.
  • The property is only advertised through social media advertisements or the person letting the location will only communicate via messenger or WhatsApp. You should push for direct answers and if responses are vague disengage immediately.
  • Where your knowledge of it came from an unsolicited contact / social media feed / pop up advert or where the landlord or property agent appears to be based in foreign jurisdictions.
  • There is a sense of urgency like "a one-time offer” pressurizing you to commit and transfer funds immediately.
  • The listing contains grammar or spelling mistakes and/or there are very limited details or pictures of the property.
  • The landlord is unable to meet up to show you the property in person. 
  • When communication is only through text messages, WhatsApp or another social media platform.
  • When the property is offered with no questions asked and payment demanded immediately before signing the lease.
  • When you are asked to pay cash, cryptocurrency or money via a non-bank transfer (such as wire transfer).
  • Where the bank account you are asked to send the money to is in a different country.