Gardai are advising people to be wary of rental scams, particularly at this time of year when students are returning to college.
There were a total of 503 cases of rental scams reported to the gardai between February 1, 2019 and May 31, 2021.
Due to the pandemic, these incidents have been declining in the last 18 months, but they're still quite popular and gardai have highlighted that the new generation of third-level students seeking accommodation could be a target for fraudsters.
Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan of the Gardaí National Economic Crime Bureau has said: "You should only use recognised letting agencies or deal with people who are bona fida and trusted.
"Websites can be cloned, check the URL to ensure it’s a real website and take note of the privacy and refund policy sections.
"Be very wary of social media advertisements or where a person letting the location will only communicate via messenger or WhatsApp.
"You should push for direct answers and if responses are vague disengage immediately," he said.
In terms of the main areas where rental scams have occurred, almost half of these incidents took place in the Dublin region.
Just over €900,000 was stolen by scammers over this period, with 42% of all injured parties under the age of 25.
In terms of the overall figures, 72% of all injured parties were under the age of 35.
In order to prevent further scams like this from happening, Detective Superintendent Cryan offered some more tips and advice.
"Watch out for unsolicited contacts or where the contact appears to be based in other jurisdictions and especially if there is a sense of urgency like "a one-time offer”.
"If you have decided to take up the offer only use trusted money transfer systems, I would recommend using a credit card. Never transfer money direct, pay cash, pay into cryptocurrency wallets.
"Be wary if a website is asking you to send money to a random PayPal address, wire it by Western Union, pay in iTunes gift cards or only deals in cryptocurrency. The majority of the time, those methods are done to avoid scrutiny and ensure that a transaction can’t be reversed."
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