In 2017, La Voz de Lanzarote did a report on possible scams in apartment rentals through fake ads on the Internet after being a direct victim. Now, four years later and in the midst of the Covid pandemic crisis, this type of scam could be happening again on the island, according to a reader's alert.
According to this man, last Monday he saw an ad "on the Idealista website", in which a rental home in Costa Teguise was offered and a telephone number was provided "to contact via WhatsApp". However, after contacting and receiving a first message, he says that it already seemed "quite strange" because the advertiser warned him "that he was not in Spain, that he was in Germany".
Later, he was told that he had to make a reservation through a well-known vacation rental company, even though the house was offered for long-term rental, and that he would be sent "a link to make a payment", so that an agent from said company could show him the property.
Specifically, what was offered was a 120 square meter chalet with three bedrooms and he was asked to pay the price of the first month's rent and the deposit, which totaled 1,020 euros. "If for some reason you don't want to stay in the apartment, you will be refunded the entire amount you paid in the same way," he was assured in a message. Likewise, the advertiser also asked him to send a copy of his ID "to attach it to the reservation" and "to be able to write the rental agreement".
Suspecting this method, this resident of Lanzarote told someone what was happening to him and then this person sent him the report that La Voz published in 2017, in which he warned of possible scams using the same formula. "It was identical to what had happened to me, it was exactly the same, that the person is not in the country, that he cannot show the apartment, that the price is below market...", he points out.
Thus, he decided to call the Civil Guard and report the events. However, according to what they have confirmed from the Benemérita, when the agents went to look for the ad, it had already disappeared from the Internet. Thus, from the Civil Guard they have not been able to confirm if it was a scam, but they have indicated that these types of scams are "common" and that "we are in a moment where a large percentage of the crimes that are committed are through the network".
"I didn't pay, but someone contacted and they managed to scam him," says the man who wanted to alert La Voz "in case it can help" the population of the island.
