I am renting out my flat and a tenant abroad wants to pay extra in advance. Is it a scam?
Yes. A tenant who has never seen the flat, wants to pay several months in advance from abroad and then asks you to forward part of it to a "shipping agent" or "relative" is running the overpayment scam. The payment is fake or reversible; your refund is real.
The story is detailed – a job transfer to your city, a family arriving next month, a company paying the rent – and the tenant is very agreeable. The problem comes when the "extra" amount needs to go somewhere else.
What to do
- Do not refund or forward any money to anyone, ever, before the funds have fully cleared and the tenant has signed an agreement in person.
- Insist on a meeting – the tenant or a representative – and on ID and documents.
- Accept only the normal deposit and rent, by a normal transfer, in the tenant's own name.
- If a payment arrives that is larger than agreed, tell your bank and let it handle any reversal.
Frequently asked questions
- A cheque from abroad was credited. Is it safe now?
- Not necessarily. Foreign cheques can be reversed weeks later. Do not pay anything out against it.
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