Rental scammers rip off people looking for a flat in Zurich with online advertisements
It sounds too good to be true: the renovated old building in Zurich is said to have 2.5 rooms, measures 58 square meters, is centrally located in district 3 and is said to cost only 910 francs a month rent. The landlady pretends to be Ana M., wants to be 58 and work for the Spanish Ministry of the Interior. But the apartment doesn’t exist – neither does the landlady. Ana M.’s real name is Cristian P.*, an ice-cold scammer.
As Ana M., he tries to build trust with potential victims. After a viewing request, he tells of his alleged family, the eight-year-old Labrador and that he soon became a proud grandmother.
Money should be transferred to private address
Then it’s down to business: it was just three weeks ago that he flew to Zurich for a viewing appointment in vain. Cristian P. needs a guarantee in the form of a deposit of 1,200 francs. He pretends to want to process the transaction through a well-known Swiss rental guarantee provider.
At the latest when the supposed bail company sends an e-mail, all the alarm bells start ringing. The document WILL explain that payment should be made to the international headquarters in Madrid – but the actual headquarters are in Zurich. What the company says about the name abuse? The company left a corresponding request from Blick unanswered.
The money is said to be transferred to a Spanish private account, allegedly directly to the responsible bank clerk. According to the bill, his name is Cristian P. and he lives in Madrid.
You should be careful with this news
Scammers have been trying to make money with this scam for several years – and they seem to be successful time and time again. The police receive reports in the single digits, sometimes in the low double digits, every month, as the Zurich city police told Blick.
The ads are all very similar. The Zurich city police know the patterns and explain when you should become suspicious: the landlord cannot appear for the handover and wants to send the key by post. A deposit or rent is required even before receiving a key. The payment goes to a person whose name does not match that of the landlord. “We advise not to pay any money in advance and never get involved in an apartment that you have not personally visited,” says police spokesman Pascal Siegenthaler.
What do the portals do?
The investigations are very complex. “The IP addresses of the alleged perpetrators and the bank accounts used quickly always lead abroad, which makes criminal prosecution more difficult,” says Siegenthaler. Nevertheless, it is always possible to arrest people for fraud.
The police are dependent on the platform operator’s help so that fraudulent advertisements are deleted as quickly as possible. But why are such advertisements still appearing on the portals when the scam has actually been known for years? Sebastian Sinemus, spokesman for the Swiss Marketplace Group, emphasizes that sustainable and successful investments have been made in state-of-the-art technology and specialized staff: “We keep overall statistics on all advertisements, which record the number of fraud attempts. In fact, 99.9 percent of the listings on Homegate and ImmoScout24 are reputable.»
increase during pandemic
New inserts are checked for access and content. “We constantly adapt to new tactics or technical tricks of criminal subjects, test and implement appropriate countermeasures,” says Sinemus. “Colleagues who deal with the prevention of fraud attempts on a daily basis would describe it as a game of cat and mouse,” he explains. Users also report suspicious advertisements again and again. If a fraudulent ad does make it onto one of the real estate portals, it will usually be deleted in less than an hour.
The fraud attempts affect strong fluctuations. “They come in waves. Also because there are free riders who want to benefit from a new idea of how to rip people off, »says Sinemus. The number of fraudulent advertisements increased during the Covid 19 pandemic. The restrictions during the pandemic made the scammers’ justification for not being able to be on site seem more plausible.
During research in the last few weeks, several fraudulent advertisements were found and the scammers contacted. When asked about the fraud, the mail traffic broke off. Cristian P. was also no longer heard from.
*Name known to editors
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