With 20,000 students expected to be seeking accommodation in Galway in the coming weeks, a warning has been issued urging vigilance against organised rental scams.
Each year, hundreds of students are targeted by false “landlords” and scammers seeking to con them out of their savings by offering accommodation units and properties, that they either purport to be renting, or don’t exist.
The national housing charity Threshold has joined forces with the Irish Council for International Students (ICOS ) and the Union of Students Ireland (USI ) to raise awareness of rental scams ahead of the new academic year, next month. The Scamwatch campaign launches as thousands of students begin searching for accommodation across Ireland.
False websites are reportedly becoming an increasingly common platform for scams, as well as websites that appear as replicas of real letting platforms such as Daft.ie and Airbnb. Fake accounts posing as landlords offering accommodation on social media websites such as Facebook are also becoming a regular location for rental scams to take place.
The new campaign highlights the “dos and don’ts” for students and provides them with contact information for Threshold, ICOS and USI where they can request advice about their rights as private renters and safeguards, they should take to avoid scams
John-Mark McCafferty, CEO of Threshold told the Advertiser that they are increasingly aware of a surge of rental scams, particularly ahead of the academic period, with students unfortunately being easy targets.
See www.threshold.ie/faq/how-to-spot-a-scam/ for more details
