How protect yourself from scammers when renting an apartment

Dear friends! Recently, cases of fraud related to daily rental apartments. The scammers who, under the guise of apartment owners, offer daily apartments in Kiev and other cities, using photos of real apartments, are trafficked on online ad sites. The scam scheme is that after you send the pseudo-owner a prepayment for an apartment, you will not see your money, apartment or pseudo-owner. After analyzing online ad sites, we identified hundreds of similar offers.

Check out a few simple rules to avoid becoming victims of such scams.

1

Pay attention to the price. This is perhaps one of the main rules for recognizing a scammer’s proposal. Pseudo owners of apartments, offers apartments at very low prices, two or even three times lower than the market. Most people bribe the low cost of apartments. Fraudsters know it, and use it. If you stumbled upon an offer, in which the photo shows an apartment with good repair and furniture, modern design, located in the central areas of the city, and at the same time it costs, for example, 350 – 450 UAH. (prices are based on an analysis of the average cost of daily apartments in Kiev), be sure – before you offer a swindler.

2

Check the availability of the site from the owner or company that offers daily apartment. The presence of the site, of course, is not a 100% guarantee that the owner of the apartment is not a fraudster, but in more cases, the scammers do not spend their time on creating websites, filling them and supporting.

3

Having an office with a company or owner who provides apartments. If the company rent apartments has its own office – this is a significant reason that you are dealing with the real owners of the apartment. If possible, you can pay an advance payment for apartments in the office of the company, and receive documents confirming your booking.

four

Reviews of the company. Look on the Internet reviews of other people about the company. The presence of reviews is already a good signal that the company is real. If there is no information about the company on the Internet, or the reviews about it are sharply negative, then it is worth considering whether to use its services.

So, we can sum up a certain result. To avoid becoming a victim of scammers, to save your money, nerves and time, you should use the services of trusted apartment owners and companies. You should not look for apartments on online ad sites, because lately, on them, the concentration of non-truthful ads just rolls over, accordingly, the probability of being caught by the scam is very high. Pay attention to the price! If you see photos of luxury apartments the price of which is two or three times lower than the market price, is more likely that you have an offer for fraudsters. Find out and, if possible, check with the owner or company of a real working office. Using these simple tips, you are guaranteed to save yourself from the machinations of scammers. We are always happy to help you.