London renting: 'We lost £13,000 in a fake agent scam'

Eason Lee says he is in touch with other victims

Like many recent graduates, 22-year-old Eason Lee was desperate to find a place to live in London and found intense competition for somewhere to rent.

Little did he know he and his friend were going to become victims of a well-thought out and executed rental scam, costing them more than £13,000.

Such rental scams are on the rise. There was a 23% jump in reported cases of rental fraud from 2021 to 2022, according to data from Action Fraud.

Last year, there were 5,751 reports of rental scams nationally, or about 15 a day.

"I had one week to get a new place," says Mr Lee, who came to the UK as an international student, explaining the fear he had of ending up homeless in the capital.

After successfully finding a decent listing on OpenRent for a two-bed flat in Stratford, east London, the pair decided to view it.

Mr Lee and his friend were initially relieved to find a place in Stratford within their price range

The fraudsters operated under a name of a legitimate agency and held two days of viewings.

It later turned out that the flat shown to Mr Lee - as well as other victims - had been booked through online travel agency Booking.com, which is how the fraudsters got the keys.

'Everything looked legitimate'

"I'm pretty sure there were two people who booked out a place when we had the viewings and posed as agents," Mr Lee said.

After looking around the property, Mr Lee and his friend were sent what they say was a legitimate-looking contract and an invoice. "I read through the contract, I made sure to ask someone else too," Mr Lee said.

"Before I paid, I made sure to check the agency. There was a website for it. Everything looked legitimate so I didn't think much about it," he added.

The pair went as far as checking the Land Registry on the government website to ensure the landlord owned the property.

However, they later discovered the scammers had used the property owner's real name in the documents.

The scammers also used a legitimate real estate agency's company registration number on their invoice.

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Because the pair did not have guarantors, they had to pay six months of rent in advance, along with a deposit worth five weeks' rent.

Shortly after transferring the money to a bank account, Mr Lee received an email from OpenRent saying they had removed the advert due to suspicions of fraud.

In a state of panic, he reached out to the agent, who was still responsive and agreed to meet up to give him the keys. But no-one showed up.

"I walked up to the apartment, rang the bell. Two random guys came out and told me: 'I think you got scammed'," Mr Lee said.

"They had booked the place on Booking.com and the reason they realised we got scammed was because they already dealt with couples that came there before."

"There was another couple that came in with boxes ready to move in," he added.

Mr Lee reported the scam to OpenRent and his bank, and eventually to Action Fraud, which is the reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Action Fraud told him the case would take 28 days to be reviewed and that it could be passed on the Metropolitan Police to investigate.

'Desperate'

Mr Lee said that looking back, there were details he should have noticed, but it was because he was so desperate for housing that he "passed it on".

"I think you realise as well, when you try to rent a place in London, the moment a listing comes up, you have a two to three-day period until it gets taken by somebody else," he said.

Mr Lee's partner, who has been supporting him throughout, said: "This was an extremely pathetic thought-out scam that took huge advantage of the vulnerable."

Action Fraud data shows financial loss associated with rental scams reached £9.4m last year

OpenRent said it was "supporting" Mr Lee "as best we can" by trying to assist Action Fraud to catch the perpetrator and make sure they did not return to use the platform.

It added the platform would try to aid Mr Lee in recovering his funds.

OpenRent's website states: "When landlords list with us we verify their details and have stringent systems in place to verify their ownership of the property."

When asked to clarify what the verification process is, OpenRent said it was unable to comment further because "publishing any details of security/vetting/onboarding processes puts that information in the hands of people trying to defeat those systems".

A Booking.com spokesperson said: "While issues like this are exceptionally rare, we always take safety and security very seriously for our hosts and our customers, and have a number of measures in place to ensure peace of mind.

"This includes the ability for hosts to block certain guests if in doubt and any suspicious activity is noted, and the ability for us to block customer accounts to prevent them from making any booking on our platform at all - which we have done in this instance."

They added: "Property owners who list their properties on Booking.com have to abide by local laws and regulations depending on where the property is based."

Osama Bhutta, director of campaigns at a tenant rights charity Shelter, said that rental scams were a common type of fraud.

"Our services regularly hear from people who have seen properties online and handed over eye-watering amounts of money to secure a home, only to find out it was a scam, and they were not dealing with the landlord at all. 

"That is why the government must deliver on its promise of a Renters' (Reform) Bill that includes a National Landlord Register. This would drive up standards, making it easier for renters to avoid bogus landlords."

As for Mr Lee, he says he is now staying with his partner while he waits to hear about the next steps from Action Fraud and tries to figure out what to do next.

If you have been affected by a rental scam, or want to know how to protect yourself in the future, visit Action Fraud for more information.

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