As Meera Ladha sat in the Lower Deck pub in Rathmines, her patience was running low. Sipping the same drink for several hours and repeatedly calling a mobile which was unaccountably switched off, had not improved her mood. Confused and puzzled, she left before the barman had a chance to issue the customary “Have ye no homes to go to?” In Meera’s case he would have made an accurate assessment.

For Meera was returning to spend yet another night on a friend’s couch, despite having secured an apartment earlier in the week with a deposit of €600 cash. That money, she now says wryly, she has “no hope of getting back.”
Meera, like so many hundreds of others in Dublin, had picked up the Evening Herald and browsed its accommodation section hopefully. She spotted what seemed like the perfect property – “Studio apartment for one working person. Car space included. €400.” Grabbing the phone, Meera called the mobile number printed with the ad and spoke to ‘Tom’ who assured her the flat was still available.
Arranging to meet him after work, Meera was anxious to view the place. Her five years spent in Dublin had fully enlightened her as to the competitive nature of the rental market here. But seeing the apartment in Portobello Quay near Rathmines proved to be a pleasant surprise. Clean, bright, well-furnished with a personal parking space and “plenty of parking for your friends or visitors” according to landlord Tom, the studio was a bargain at €400 a month.
Tom himself appeared to be the height of respectability – middle-aged, Irish, clad in an expensive suit, and extremely charming and personable to boot. He knew the apartment remarkably well and could answer questions about even the smallest details.
“I’ll take it,” were Meera’s next words. No problem said Tom, but there was a lot of interest in the place and he would have to get a deposit. Actually one month’s rent and the deposit, totalling €800. He would give her a full receipt, of course.
The amount was a little high but Meera wanted the apartment badly. Close to her work and the city centre, the clincher was, of course, the price, along with the threat of other interested parties. Handing over the €600 maximum she could withdraw from the ATM, Meera received a “very official-looking receipt” and agreed to come by to pick up the keys and move in two days later, when the current tenant would be “fully moved out.”
Of course, you can guess the rest of the story. But Meera didn’t, even as she made her first call to Tom from the pub to which she had retreated after waiting futilely outside the apartment. Property is inextricably associated with stability and con artists do not normally like to give out their home address. So that is perhaps why it took a little while for the penny, and the other €599.99, to drop for Meera.
In fact it has now become known that at least a dozen other people were hit by this operator, who called himself Tom Russell. Sums handed over to him ranged from €400 to €800. Nationalities of the victims include Irish, Russian, Malaysian and African.
Tony is from Russia and works long hours in a restaurant for a minimal wage. Saving for the deposit would have taken quite some time. But he had literally run out of friends’ places to stay. Waiting with bags in hand for the landlord and key he was now down hundreds of euros and was just hoping his restaurant would let him sleep on the floor tonight.
Anne Regan found the apartment through her daughter who had sourced it on the web (the on-line version of the Irish Independent runs ads which have been placed in the Herald). Duped in a similar fashion to all the others, Anne’s anger is directed beyond the spurious landlord.
Having met Meera and another victims at the apartment, all three went to Kevin Street Garda station that Saturday to report the crime. They were told the matter could only be dealt with by the Fraud Squad who work Monday to Friday, and seeing as it was a Bank Holiday weekend it would be Tuesday before they would be on the case.
Anne was concerned that in the meantime others would be stung by the scam. But she waited until Tuesday having left all her details with the Gardaí. Nobody contacted her on Tuesday and so she rang Kevin Street the day after. Asking to speak to the Garda she had first met there proved futile and Anne spent the next few days calling but not receiving any reply to her messages.
Finally it was Friday and Anne took the route of many who feel they cannot find justice in this country : she went on Liveline. “Five minutes after I came off the air I got a call from the garda at Kevin Street.” says Anne, “She said that someone would be contacting me in the next few days to get a statement. I was mystified at the fact that they hadn’t taken a statement from me on the day I reported it, when it was fresh in my mind.” She is now annoyed at the fact that she lost hundreds of euros, and concerned at the fact that the scam operator could simply have moved on elsewhere.
At the time of writing a representative of the major Dublin property firm who manage the apartment block appeared not to have been informed of the scam at all, and was “shocked to hear it”.
Meera commented, “Surely they could trace the guy through the credit card number he used to book the ad ?”
The Evening Herald changed their policy of booking ads over the counter in the last two years when a similar scam was run by an individual who got a friend to book the ad at their head office in Abbey Street. Now the Herald require two forms of photo ID. However an ad can still be booked over the phone using a credit card. At the time of writing the Herald couldn’t confirm whether or not they had been contacted by the Gardaí, but workers in the classified ads dept. had heard nothing about the matter.
Asked how this kind of scam could be prevented in the future, a garda spokesperson replied: “We suggest people use genuine letting agents.” The problem, of course, is that several agencies charge fees, the process can be quite lengthy, and property owners may not wish to pay agency commissions.
Anne Regan comments “The Garda told me they weren’t just sitting on their hands and that they would run the item on Crimeline.” The latter is in marked contrast to the Garda Press Office who, when asked if any statement was being released to the press, replied “No, not in a case like this. Besides we don’t wish to encourage copycat offences.”
Perhaps a successful investigation and prosecution of the perpetrator of this scam would be a better deterrent.