A 25-year-old man was arrested in Lisbon, last Friday, March 31, on suspicion of committing eight crimes of qualified fraud, within the scope of false housing leases, revealed the Public Security Police (PSP), in a statement sent to Notícias ao Minuto.

According to the authorities, since the beginning of March there has been an increase in scams related to false house rentals in Lisbon.

The PSP was able to identify and locate the suspect who, "cunningly", was renting an apartment for a few nights, via the internet, then placing them for rent in an advertisement made by himself, posing as an intermediary, or even as the owner of the property.

The scammer, after contacting the future tenants, made appointments, showed the apartment and asked for a monetary amount that varied between €620 and €2,000 as a down payment. Then, he handed over the supposed keys to the apartments, and when the injured parties tried to access them, they were not able to because they were fake keys.

To carry out the scams, the suspect always used this 'modus operandi', managing to earn, in just one month, around 10 thousand euros.

Upon being presented to the Lisbon Criminal Investigation Judge, for the first judicial interrogation, the suspect was released.