Accommodation website Daft.ie have said they are considering becoming a "bond authority" following a rental scam in which users of the site lost an estimated €35,000.
Up to 30 people were conned when an advertisement was placed on the site offering a two bedroom apartment for rent in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
Prospective tenants turned up at The Sweepstakes, opposite the RDS, having parted with up to €2,300 to discover that the keys they were given did not fit the locks. One Spanish woman travelled from Cork on the train with all of her belongings and found herself with no where to live.
A Dublin woman, who contacted The Irish Times but did not wish to be named, said she was shocked and horrified when she discovered that she and a friend had been conned out of €1,150 each.
"I couldn't believe it, we had a proper viewing and everything seemed fine, he even asked me for references," she said.
Brian Fallon, director with Daft.ie, said they would now consider starting a "bond authority" scheme to offer more protection to people who use their site.
Under the scheme, the tenant would pay the customary booking deposit directly to Daft.ie, it would be held for the landlord and would be refundable if there were problems with the property.
"It would be a massive undertaking but we are seriously considering it because it would offer much more protection," he said.
"In terms of the current case, we will be co-operating with gardaí and doing as much as we can to help catch the culprit."
People who place adverts on the site pay by credit card and the card can be traced, he said, although it was likely in this instance that the fraudster had used a stolen card. The company can also trace the computer from which the advert originated.
Mr Fallon said the scam was not new and was easier to execute through newspapers but had occurred on three occasions since 1997 through Daft.ie .
"What happened the last time was that we caught him because he put up another ad and we had a trigger for him," he said.
"The second he entered the same credit card number or used the same mobile phone number we knew about it and we could tell the gardaí."
Mr Fallon said that they would be including a warning on their website from today, advising people not to pay deposits in cash unless they are completely satisfied about the legitimacy of the deal.
