Rental scams: what they look like this year

Housing scammers target international students specifically, in the July to September window, because we search from abroad, under time pressure, and we are used to paying deposits up front.

The scripts barely change from year to year.

The five that keep coming back

1. The landlord abroad. “I am working in London, on an oil platform, on a UN mission. I cannot show the flat, but my agent will courier the keys once you transfer the deposit.” There is no flat. There are no keys.
2. The too good studio. Furnished, city centre, half the market rate, photos lifted from a real listing. Urgency is the tell. Three other people are always interested today.
3. The viewing fee. You are asked to pay to view, or to reserve a viewing slot. Real landlords do not charge you to look at a room.
4. The copied identity. Somebody poses as a real letting agency. Right name, right logo, wrong bank account. Check the IBAN against the agency’s official website, never against the email.
5. The subletter who is not. Somebody rents a flat for a weekend, or still has keys from an earlier scam, shows it convincingly, takes deposits from five people and vanishes. A real viewing is not proof. The paperwork has to match the person.

Rules that keep you safe

Never pay anything before you have seen the room, in person or on a live video call that you direct, and have a signed contract. No exceptions for reservation fees, however plausible the story.

Pay traceably. Bank transfer to a named account. Never Western Union, MoneyGram, crypto or gift cards. Those four words ending a conversation is a feature, not a loss.

Verify the person. Ask for ID, and ask whether you can register at the address. A scammer selling a flat they do not own gets vague right here.

Check the price against reality. Forty percent under everything else in the same neighbourhood is not your lucky day.

Slow down deliberately. Every one of these scripts runs on urgency. A real landlord can wait a day. Treat manufactured deadline pressure as evidence in itself.

If it happens anyway

Report it to the police, aangifte doen, online or at a station. Being a foreign student changes nothing about your right to report.

Tell your bank immediately, because a transfer can sometimes still be recalled. Report the profile to the platform.

Then tell the group chat. Unglamorous, but every story genuinely protects the next person.