The attractive rental price for the apartment and the time pressure can fool many. According to the Trusted Third Party one of its readers was scammed by the apartment rental listing on the OLX portal.

The vigilance of the victim was dormant, the alleged owner of the apartment was familiar with the location and was listing the nearby shops and bus lines to the victim. However, one thing that could raise doubts was the price, which was very attractive in comparison to regular prices in Warsaw.

The scammer without hesitation agreed to the reservation of the apartment in the form of a civil law contract, which he sent by email and also asked for a security deposit in the amount of a monthly rent - a transfer of PLN 1750 to an account in Alior Bank. After receiving the transfer, the listing was to be deleted.
After finalizing the transfer, the reader of the Trusted Third Party began to worry, because the listing was not removed from the portal, and the photos of the alleged apartment looked like one of the apartments in the center of Wroclaw that was listed on Booking.com.

The victim informed the alleged owner of the apartment about this fact, who expressed his surprise that the photo he included in listing appeared on Booking.com. The victim then asked for a refund, but so far the amount was not returned. The tricked person has also submitted a complaint to the bank, however in this situation confirmation of the refund from the recipient is also required. The OLX portal has been informed of the scam as well as the police.

As the TTP explains, the comfort of the apartment, the rush and the advertiser's unquestionable behavior resulted in the victim's dormant vigilance.