Over half of Facebook Marketplace rental listings appear to be scams, a tenants’ campaign group claims.

Generation Rent makes the claim based on a relatively small survey of just 300 rental property adverts. 

It says that almost three quarters (74%) of those listings were found to contain at least one indicator that the advert is suspicious or a scam, according to guidance from the technology giant Meta, which operates Facebook. 

Some 25 months ago figures released from Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting centre, showed that there were 5,751 reports of rental scams in 2022 – the latest data available – and this constituted a 23% rise on the previous 12 months.

Scammers place fake listing adverts on sites such as Facebook and Gumtree that seem identical to ads for genuine properties from letting agents and landlords. They change the contact details and, when contacted, pretend to be the agent or landlord. But after securing a deposit, they usually disappear, sometimes having shown a prospective tenant around a property which is in reality a hired Airbnb but which they claim to be available for longer-term renting.

Action Fraud says that in 2022 the total losses by duped victims were £9.4m, about £1,600 per victim.

And just two months ago a bogus landlord who duped five families out of large sums in a “cruel” rental scam was sentenced.

Gullriaz Tajpuri, 49, used Facebook Marketplace to fraudulently advertise two properties for rent in Nottingham that he did not own. He then received money in the form of deposits from five victims of the fraud – totalling £3,130. Nottingham Crown Court heard all five victims agreed to rent a three-bedroom property from Tajpuri after he provided them with a virtual tour in 2021. Four paid him a £695 deposit, while the fifth victim parted with £350.

An investigation was launched after one of the victims, a mother in her 30s, reported the scam to Nottinghamshire Police. The woman told detectives she had planned to move into the property in time for Christmas with her partner and young daughter and that the scam had left her feeling “depressed.”