When Austrian students Marie Sramek and Tanya Rosenecker arrived in Ireland at the end of August, they were looking forward to a productive two months spent helping homeless people.
"I was already here so I really do like Ireland, and I told my friend how nice it was, but when we arrived here it wasn't nice at all," said aspiring social worker Ms Rosenecker, who was embarking on a volunteering stint at Merchant's Quay Ireland when she fell victim to an elaborate scam.
The two 20-year-old college friends had been in touch with someone purporting be a landlord offering to rent a terraced house in a desirable location at the heart of south Dublin city.
They found the property on Facebook and, despite having only email correspondence with the alleged owner, who gave their name as Athika Khalid, forwarded €550 in good faith as a deposit.
“We were at the address where we should live, and we were ringing the door, but there was a disabled man coming out. We asked him if he knows Athika Khalid because she is the person we were supposed to stay with, and he said he didn’t know her.”
The man, who has Down syndrome, consulted with the house owner, his eldery mother. Neither of them had ever heard of an Athika Khalid.
Duped
The friends realised they had been duped. The fake landlord had sent the students a copy of her passport, a
UPC
bill, and provided details of an
AIB
account based in
Drogheda
, but it was all a scam.
Stunned, they knocked on the door of the neighbouring house, belonging to Breda Kennedy. She brought them in for a cup of tea before accompanying them to report what happened at Kevin Street Garda station, where they say the duty officer told them a similar hoax had been perpetrated on others in the same situation by a gang they suspected to be based in the UK.
“They know this gang, they said they were going to call us back but they never did,” said Ms Rosenecker, who was due to begin her full-time role at Merchant’s Quay that same week.
“We called the Austrian consulate and we told them what happened to us, and they offered to give us money but said we had to pay the money back. It’s not about the money, it’s about getting help,” said Ms Ms Rosenecker.
“Then he told us he’s not a landlord, he can’t help us to find flats, he can’t do anything.”
A Garda spokesman told The Irish Times the incident remains under investigation, and no arrests have been made as yet.
Precaution
Gardaí advised prospective renters on precautionary steps which should be taken when contacting landlords. These include speaking with the landlord in advance, surveying the interior condition of the house or apartment before paying a deposit, and using reputable websites and agents to find accommodation.
“Gardaí are aware of a number of other such cases, hence the warning issued. We are asking any others who have been victims of similar scams to contact their local Garda station.”
As for the Austrian students, they’re still devoting all their spare time to house-hunting.
“It would be nice if they could spend their first week in Dublin doing something else and seeing Dublin, but they’re spending all the time outside their volunteering desperately trying to find a place,” said Ms Kennedy, who is putting them up in a spare room until they find their feet.
Ms Kennedy said the case acts as a cautionary tale for a crime that is becoming more prevalent as people use alternative and diverse methods to source homes.
“Thousands and thousands of students, Irish and foreign, are spending a fortune in this city, and it’s just wrong,” she said. “All the universities want to attract more foreign, fee-paying students and they’re getting ripped off when they come, so it’s not projecting a good image of Ireland.”