Giabao, 23, touched down in Manchester Airport last autumn after an 18-hour flight from the US. He’d relocated to the UK to study for a Masters degree at the University of Manchester, and as he made the journey into the city centre and towards his new home – a houseshare he’d found on SpareRoom – he felt a lot of things: excitement, nerves, fatigue.

But cold panic set in when he arrived at the address. “It was probably one of the worst days of my life,” he recalls. When Giabao met the current tenants at the address he’d been given, they were confused. There was no spare room in the house; the tenants had “no idea” who the ‘landlord’ Giabao had been speaking to was. To make matters worse, Giabao had made a hefty down payment to secure the room. “I was unable to go to viewings because I was not physically in the UK,” he explains. “I just wanted stability – which is why I made down payments to secure a place before I got there.”

“I had been aware of housing scams at the time, but this particular scammer was disgusting in his manipulation,” he continues, explaining that he’d taken extra precautions to avoid being conned including looking up the landlord on the Land Registry system and even asking to speak to one of the current tenants. “I was connected to a fake tenant with a real social media presence who vouched for the fake landlord.”

In total, Giabao had handed over £3,000 to the fake landlord. “I had worked full-time for a year to earn enough to afford everything on my own,” he explains, adding that he racked up additional costs by living in a hotel for a week before finding more permanent accommodation. He never retrieved the money he lost. “I wish I had been smarter, but they also didn’t display any red flags until I had realised too late.”

Giabao isn’t alone. The number of rental scams is rising: last year, there were 5,751 reports of rental scams nationally, or about 15 a day, up 23 per cent compared with 2021. It’s unsurprising that more scams are being reported as the UK’s housing crisis rages on, with demand continuing to far outstrip supply. “Scammers naturally take advantage of desperate situations, and with a lack of housing available and with rents rising rapidly, there are a lot of renters desperate for a place to live who are vulnerable to be targeted by scammers,” explains Dan Wilson Craw, deputy chief Executive at Generation Rent.

“Scammers naturally take advantage of desperate situations, and with a lack of housing available and with rents rising rapidly, there are a lot of renters desperate for a place to live who are vulnerable to be targeted by scammers” – Dan Wilson Craw

Recent figures from Rightmove show that the average number of renters requesting to view one property has shot up from six in 2019, to 20 in spring 2023, to 25 at present. It’s a perfect storm for scammers: demand is so intense that it’s not uncommon for listings to be snapped up within a matter of hours, especially in London where competition for housing is particularly fierce. This means renters are often desperate and feel pressured into making snap decisions, handing over ‘holding fees’ or deposit money before having a chance to check if they’re dealing with a legitimate landlord or view the property in person. The situation is even trickier for international students or workers like Giabao who often have to rely on riskier virtual viewings.

“The rise of scammers is a direct result of a failure to professionalise and reform the private rented sector,” Craw says. “Had the government acted sooner to pass the Renters Reform Bill and introduce a national landlord registration scheme then tenants would be able to check they were dealing with legitimate landlords.”

Maya*, 25, also fell victim to a rental scam while trying to find a place to live in London after securing an internship in the city. She soon found an apartment on Badi, a platform like SpareRoom, and reached out to the person who uploaded the listing. Like Giabao, Maya was moving to the UK from abroad, so she organised a virtual viewing with the landlord. “Everything looked pretty good. She seemed trustworthy, reliable,” Maya recalls, although she adds that the landlord told her that if she was interested in the property, it was vital that she pay the deposit as soon as possible. “I was really eager,” Maya continues. “She sent me the documents, I double-checked everything with my cousin, and paid the deposit.”

The next day, the landlord got in touch with Maya and asked for one month’s rent upfront. This isn’t uncommon, but Maya says that she and the landlord had not discussed this before and there was no mention of this in the contract she’d signed. When Maya tried to back out of the agreement and get her deposit back, the landlord kept making excuses for why she couldn’t send over the money. “She said it was held by the Tenancy Deposit Scheme so I needed to wait, then said she couldn’t send it because it was the weekend,” she says. “I was waiting, waiting, waiting… and then she just didn’t reply anymore.” Weeks later, Maya saw that she had been blocked. She’s yet to retrieve any of her money – £900 in total.

“Had the government acted sooner to pass the Renters Reform Bill and introduce a national landlord registration scheme then tenants would be able to check they were dealing with legitimate landlords” – Dan Wilson Craw

Evidently, scammers are becoming increasingly cunning in a bid to capitalise on the dire housing situation in the UK right now, and it can be hard to sort the legitimate landlords from the swindlers if you’re looking for a place to live. Craw notes that there are some red flags renters can look out: “If the price of rent seems drastically lower than other properties you’ve seen and if the property is not listed via a genuine letting agent but listed on social media by an account with little information about the landlord or agent, this can be a big red flag that the listing is a scam,” he explains.

If you’ve already got in touch with the supposed landlord or agent, alarm bells should start ringing “if the person who is listing the property demands payment in advance before showing you the property or providing any kind of documentation to prove they own the house”. Crew also recommends checking the owner of a property online via the Land Registry or sites like Rent Profile.

Giabao, who was still scammed even after ensuring the ‘landlord’s’ name matched the name listed on the Land Registry system, stresses that viewing the flat in person would be his top piece of advice, even for international students. “I was unable to because I was not physically in the UK, however, I would say that even if you’re an international student, it might be worth living in a cheap hotel for a few weeks and scoping out flats in person – that’s better than possibly being scammed.”

If you do think you’ve been scammed, Craw advises getting in touch with the police or Action Fraud as soon as possible, as well as contacting your bank.

*Name has been changed