Rental Frauds
Unfortunately, there are people who will try to take advantage of students desperate to find accommodation.
These people are called scammers and aim to steal your money or your identity. Scammers misuse the fact that there is a high demand for student accommodations. Since many prospective students are rather unfamiliar with the market, they are more vulnerable to be scammed. When searching for accommodation it is recommended not to act on emotions and always check for reliability.
Recognising scammers
Rental Fraud is a form of online fraud where scammers advertise fake offers to lure you into sending then money or a copy of your passport. You can recognize such scams by minding these points:
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The offered room, studio, or apartment is usually on a great location for a really affordable price.
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Frauds open an account on a regular and genuine platform offering (student) rooms. They publish an advertisement offering an attractive room on an existing address, which is usually close to the university. The advertisement has nice pictures (often copied from websites of real estate agencies when the same room was for sale in the past). In the descriptive the address could be spelt wrong or is incomplete or the rental contract has spelling mistakes.
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After having established contact on a genuine housing platform, a scammer will ask to continue communication outside the platform through email or Skype. Notice that they will not answer your questions clearly or will ignore them. They are usually not fluent in Dutch and use a text that was translated online (Google Translate).
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A scammer may send you a fake website that looks reliable or is a fake copy of a well-known housing website. The URL is usually different from the original website. Make sure it is a secure and reliable website. Check for example where the company is registered.
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If you asked for a room in an advertisement or on posted anything on popular social media sites, scammers may also approach you personally.
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When you contact the person offering the room they usually come up with a story that they currently are not in Delft or in The Netherlands. They indicate that they cannot meet you and you cannot view the room in advance. However, they may suggest to alternatively bring you into contact with a future housemate if you give them your email address.
After exchanging several emails, your landlord/lady will kindly ask you to send a copy of your passport and to pay a deposit 'to show that you are genuinely interested' and 'to reserve the room till the start of the academic year'. He or she may send you a copy of a passport (which is not his/her own), to 'proof' that they are 'not one of those frauds that the university warns against'.
Lastly, payments are asked to transfer to a non-Dutch bank account since the landlord/lady is outside the Netherlands, and it is mentioned that after the payment you will never hear from the landlord/lady again.
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A scammer will ask you to pay a deposit on the property and maybe some months advanced rent before you have viewed the accommodation. Usually semi-anonymous money transfer services will be used like Western Union and MoneyGram. They do this because money transfers are not always traceable via these services. Alternatively, they may ask you to send money by TNT or UPS and suggest to send you the keys upon receiving the money.
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A scammer may try to emotionally manipulate you. They could do this by making up a sad story to make you believe their excuses or on the other extreme they may sound very nice and eager to have you rent the property. Another way a scammer may try to manipulate you is by pressuring you to sign quickly.
How to protect yourself?
There are several measures you can take to protect yourself against becoming a victim of rental fraud:
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- You will never find a decent room in Delft that is cheaper than 250 euro per month.
- And student rooms usually do not look like hotel rooms; notice for instance the water cooker and price list on the door.
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- Don’t trust Landlords/ladies who claim not to be able to arrange a viewing because 'they are not in the Netherlands' or 'doing an internship' somewhere far away.
- Scammers generally operate outside the Netherlands, where the Dutch police cannot do anything against these kinds of schemes.
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- you have checked their identity thoroughly
- you have marked the copy for this special occasion ("for rental contract <address> only"). This makes it much harder for frauds to misuse your identity.
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- In The Netherlands lawyers do not rent out rooms.
- Genuine agencies should always have a decent website with at least a phone number (and often an address). Check them on Google as well.
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- Only pay through regular bank accounts of the owner or renting organization in the Netherlands. You will have a better chance of getting your money back in case of fraud.
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- Search on Google or funda.nl whether the house is for sale (and not for rent); scammers often steal pictures from websites of genuine real estate agencies.
- If possible have someone who is already in Delft (like a enrolled student friend) view the room on your behalf.
- Google whether an address or name has been used before in a fraud scheme.
- Check whether (interior) photographs fit with the house shown on Google Streetview / Maps.
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- Land line phone numbers in Delft and Pijnacker always start with 015 (or +31-15... when the country code 31 of the Netherlands is added); numbers in The Hague begin with 070 (or +31-70) and numbers in Schiedam and Rotterdam with 010 (or +31-10). Dutch mobile phones always have a 06 / +31-6... number.
- If people refuse to give you a phone number, even after several contacts by email, they apparently have something to hide. We strongly advise you to break off further contact.
Please report any suspicious advertisement URLs and frauds by emailing to TU Delft.
Helpful sites
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https://hi.rentreturn.nl/4cTL
This Facebook group is private and each account is manually checked. -
https://hi.rentreturn.nl/4cSm
Rental advise about your situation and rental agreement (Note: costs involved!) -
https://hi.rentreturn.nl/44k
Here you can upload your contract and have this checked (costs: 49 euros)