• Sweden edition
Business & Money

Fraudsters trick 27 into paying for same flat

Published: 7 Aug 12 16:37 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/42480/20120807/

Police have arrested two people who conned 27 would-be tenants, many of whom were students, into paying a deposit on the same apartment in Stockholm.

An advert for the apartment, which is in the Stockholm district of Gärdet, was posted on Swedish buy-sell site Blocket as well as others for potential tenants to see.

Those interested in the apartment were even able to inspect it, with 27 of the house-hunters being so satisfied with what they saw that they gave over an advanced payment of 20,000 kronor ($2,989) to the con artists.

However, the would-be tenants were all told afterwards that the apartment had already been rented out.

“The two suspects have had access to the apartment and have made sure that the tenant applicants have had the chance to see it,” said criminal inspector Gunilla Hörndahl of the Stockholm police to the magazine Hem & Hyra.

“Coincidentally, two of the intending tenants noticed that they had looked at the same apartment and called us.”

The two fraudsters, who were arrested in the apartment, are believed to have netted over 500,000 kronor from the scam, which means they are now suspected of aggravated fraud, a crime which can result in up to six years in prison.

Police have launched an investigation.

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20:10 August 7, 2012 by djmarko
apartments are so hard to find in central stockholm, that gives rise to these types of scams as everyone is desperate, seriously the government needs to change legislation, especially when you buy a property and you need to take permission to rent it out, think that law needs to change
07:10 August 8, 2012 by entry
" they are now suspected of aggravated fraud, a crime which can result in up to six years in prison."

Six years... if they raped and murdered the apartment seekers they would probably only get 18 months in jail....if that.
10:15 August 8, 2012 by Grokh
lol yep they would get 18 for killing, and 12months for molesting a child.(exagerating a bit but not far from the truth)

thats how weird it is here
12:11 August 10, 2012 by Sadiqmalik
Lolz.. are you serious..?? only 18 months for killing ??...
15:17 August 10, 2012 by smilingjack
if you didnt have such a backward system for getting rental accommodation this sort of thing woudnt happen.
19:12 August 12, 2012 by OUIJA
The article is a whole lie. This could never happen in colourful Sweden, the most honest country in the whole world, the least corrupted country in the whole world and with the more honest people in the whole world.

Please TL: Do not print more lies than the ones you are entitled too.
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