People looking for accommodation are not the only ones at risk. Landlords are also targeted by scammers.

Scammers con money from members advertising rooms by sending payment meant to secure a room remotely, usually by cheque. This will seem above board until they ask you for all or part of this payment back.

Once you have partially or wholly refunded the payment, you will discover that the initial cheque you received has bounced.

Rental scams do not always involve fake payments directly relating to the rent, they may use associated moving costs as another method. For instance, if your new tenant is moving from another country and claims that they have paid for some belongings to be shipped/relocated to your property - they may invent some convoluted story about needing to make a final payment when their shipment arrives, but have unfortunately (and conveniently) had their credit card stolen.

We have a strong knowledge of these scams and we have a dedicated team on Easyroommate that works 24/7 to keep the site safe to use.

If you encounter any malicious user again, you can go ahead and flag their accounts using the flag option at the bottom of their profiles, this way the moderation team will take action immediately.

We are always here to help you if you would like to check any accounts or if you need any assistance using the site, our email address is: Victoria@easyroommate.com