A resident of Lanzarote has reported to the National Police that she has been scammed when trying to rent a home in Arrecife. According to the report, she paid an amount of 1,227 euros, in transfers with different concepts, and on the day of the key delivery the alleged owner “did not appear”.
The house that was advertised for rent, through the Milanuncios website, is located on Guatemala Street, in the capital's neighborhood of La Vega. The affected person saw the photos but did not get to visit the house, because the advertiser claimed that the previous tenants were still inside. However, he warned her that there were other interested parties, so she ended up making the reservation of the property on January 20, making two bank transfers of 480 euros each, to cover the deposit and the first month's rent; and another of 267 euros for the electricity meter of the house.
Both parties agreed to deliver the keys on January 25, although according to the report, the landlord did not appear at the place, and stopped answering the phone to the affected person. She tried to contact him through messages and phone calls, but assures that she never got a response.
“He told me that the apartment belonged to the woman, and I signed a contract that he had already sent me signed, since he said he lived in Tenerife,” explains the complainant in statements to La Voz.
Once she was aware of the scam she was suffering, it was her partner who tried to contact the advertiser, pretending to be a person interested in the house. And there, according to the complainant, he did respond and even informed her partner “of the steps to follow” to formalize the contract, as if the house was still for rent.
Afterwards, when she revealed her identity and told him that her partner was already at the National Police station filing the report for fraud, she says that he hung up the phone.
The affected person provided in the report all the bank statements of the transfers made, the copy of the reservation document and the screenshots of the conversations with the alleged perpetrator of the scam.
The National Police is currently investigating the facts, as confirmed to La Voz, and "trying to find out" the origin of the bank accounts, as well as the identity of the alleged scammer.
He sent screenshots of several conversations of supposed people interested in the apartment
According to the complainant, the alleged scammer used a technique to pressure people to pay quickly. “He sent me screenshots of conversations with people supposedly interested in the apartment,” says the affected person, who assures that he used that method “with other people”.
“Getting an apartment for that price is difficult, and when a person is in need this man goes and takes advantage,” laments the woman, who explains that she is now “waiting” for the response from the National Police.
For the moment, what they told her at the police station is that the reported person was probably not even the owner of the house he was offering.