“I nearly fell for this malicious renting scam in Dublin, and want to warn others”

Seán Cannon-Earley got in contact with JOE to tell us about a rental scam that is areying on desperate Dublin renters who are struggling badly to find accommodation in the midst of Dublin's worst ever housing crisis.

Seán is eager to warn others about the malicious scam that came very close to falling for which would've cost him thousands of Euro. This is his story. *********

Last Sunday evening our landlord of eight months called me to let me know his son was returning from Spain and he would need his apartment back.

All of a sudden, my wife and I had been unexpectedly thrown into the renters' market right in the middle of one of Dublin’s worst ever housing crises. A few friends remarked that this is potentially a tactic to allow the Landlord up the rent within the new regulations. I'm not sure if this is the case - this guy has always been sound - so we took it on face value. So, myself and the wife did the usual and set up Daft.ie alerts reached out to our networks. Two weeks in, and after receiving roughly 20 alerts of some rather dingy looking places or nice places that disappear immediately, 'Ropewalk' in Ringsend came along. Two beds, one bathroom, carparking, fully furnished and, honestly, the full package. I immediately submitted to view. Within an hour the listing was 'no longer available'. Later that night, however, I got an unexpected email from Gianni Portillo [name changed] who introduced himself as the 'Landlord of Ropewalk' and wanted to know more about my background and to determine if I was still interested in relation to the rental. He asked about age, lifestyle, income, career, etc. I willingly supplied all the information he required. He went on to explain that the apartment was purchased for his daughter for her time studying in Trinity, but she was now moving home to Italy. As such, he wouldn’t be available to show the apartment but would organise an agent on the ground to help. He also asked if the rent of €1,350 and a deposit of the same would be agreeable. I agreed. Then things got strange… He asked for scans of my passport and my PPS number. (Which I didn't hand over obviously.) He also explained the agent on the ground would be from TripAdvisor. Seemed legit as a big trusted company like TripAdvisor has to be legit. Right? Then an invoice from TripAdvisor landed in my inbox. Upon inspection the email links didn’t work and was sent from tripadvisor-invoice.com (website doesn’t exist) I took to Twitter asking friends if this was a scam. A friend of mine put me in touch with her mate in TripAdvisor HQ in London. They confirmed it was indeed a scam and worryingly one of a number they’ve had reported recently. Thankfully I twigged it before I paid a cent to this guy. It’s hard enough trying to find somewhere decent, safe and warm to live in a country with a lack of adequate housing and insanely high competition. People are taking apartments over the phone with no viewings and this is enabling this reckless and dangerous opportunism from scum like the person I encountered. My hunt continues but for those of you stuck in the same boat as me please don’t fall for what I nearly fell for. Also, it seems that the property listing sites are unable to verify every listing, so some bad eggs get through the nets. Here are a few tips to stay safe when searching for somewhere to rent:

• If they ask for money up front without a viewing, don’t do it. No matter how desperate you are.
• If there’s something fishy going on save the images and do a reverse Google image search to see if they’re from somewhere else.
• Ask for a phone number to chat to a real person, it’s easier to be misled through emails.

This is the initial email Seán received... ...and the follow up email...