"I lost most of my savings" - Portsmouth student scammed out of £3,809 by deceitful fake landlord

The 29-year-old academic was coerced into forking out £3,809 in up front rent, bills, and fees. The female victim paid a £250 security deposit and the situation spiralled out of control - losing most of her savings.

When the conman asked her to pay a month’s rent up front, she said she “felt so awkward”. “But what else could I do?” she added. “He said he would pay it back, there was no need to worry because he was with the NLA (National Landlord Association), and he already had my money.

“The next day, I was in the area and waiting to view the flat and he said he was coming. But then he said there was a document missing and I also needed to pay some bills up front, like the TV licence and a maintenance fee.”

A web of excuses

The student, who was studying a masters degree in international business at the University of Portsmouth, responded to an advert for a flat in May this year on a house share app. The landlord sent her a signed tenancy agreement and asked her to pay the deposit before viewing the property in Lion Street, Portsea, because of high demand and to make sure she wasn’t a timewaster.

She paid the deposit despite having reservations, but over the next nine days, the fraudster pressured her to pay thousands more without seeing the apartment. Countless excuses were made by the male, who promised to give the victim her money back if she didn’t like the apartment. The criminal, who even sent her photo ID to prove he was genuine, made up several reasons for why she couldn’t see the flat.

“He said if I don’t pay then I won’t be entitled to a refund, and if I paid late I would pay a fine,” she added. “I was very scared because my bank account was going to be almost empty. He was putting a lot of pressure on me.”

The victim realised it was a scam when an email contact the landlord had given her for someone at the NLA looked suspicious. She said: “The landlord messaged in the same way, at the same time of day, and I realised the person messaging me from the NLA was the same man. So I stopped paying and asked for a refund. I was very stressed, because this was a difficult situation. I lost so much money, most of my savings.”

The victim was initially told by Lloyds Bank there was nothing they could do because she willingly made the payments. Solicitors from the National Fraud Helpline stepped in, and she received a full refund as the bank had a duty of care to protect customers from fraud.

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Senior partner Martin Richardson said: “Rental fraud is a huge problem. The fraudsters play on people’s anxiety about needing to find accommodation. Whenever there is desperation scammers take advantage. Rental scammers seem to target students.

“Our advice is never to pay any money upfront until you have viewed the property and to carry out a simple Land Registry check of who owns the property which only costs £3. We are delighted to have recovered all of our client’s money for her.”

The student said she never thought she would get reimbursed. She added: “I just want to alert other students to the stressful situation I faced. Never, ever pay any money to someone who says you have to pay before you view a property.”