Students fall prey to rent scam

PRETORIA: Tertiary students have been warned to be vigilant when searching for accommodation to avoid falling prey to fraudulent landlords.

This comes after four desperate Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) students were swindled out of R5 500 while looking for accommodation at a block of flats in Arcadia. A man posing as a landlord had promised Pearl Mohale, Neo Sathekge, Kgomotso Khanye and Ndumiso Yendi accommodation..

“We saw an advert on the internet and called him. He told us that we needed to put together R5 500 for the deposit,” said Yendi.

The four said he had showed them a number of flat units and told them they could move in. The conman, who had introduced himself as Alfred, instructed the four students to deposit the money within five days. After complying, he disappeared.

They said he had given them a copy of his ID and a lease agreement, but did not give them the keys to the flat which he had showed them before they deposited the money.

“Pearl contributed R2 200, while Neo, Kgomotso and I paid R1 100 each to pay the deposit for a flat,” Yendi said.

After not hearing from the man, the four went to the block of flats to look for him. “We were shocked when we found the real owner of the flats. He said this was not the first time the man had used his flat to con people,” Yendi explained.

The four opened a case of fraud against the man at the Pretoria Central police station. Police spokeswoman Ann Poortman confirmed that a case of fraud was being investigated, but said no arrests had been made.

Poortman said police had embarked on an awareness campaign to warn students of such incidents. “These kinds of cases are not rife in the Pretoria Central area, but we distributed pamphlets to the community earlier this year to alert people not to fall victim to these kind of crimes.”

TUT spokeswoman Willa de Ruyter said students were often advised to verify the credentials of landlords before entering into any contracts with them.

“Should an incident of this nature be reported to the university, counselling services would be provided to the students to assist them to cope with the situation and the trauma,” De Ruyter said.

South African Students Congress Tshwane chairman Lwando Majiza said: “We provide checklists of what to look for when looking for accommodation and also advise them to refuse signing subleases, because that’s usually how fake landlords con them out of their money.”