GEMMA FRASER wrote:
FOREIGN students are being targeted by fraudsters offering to rent them flats in the [Scottish] Capital which do not exist.
Police are investigating after a Japanese researcher lost £]asked him for another three months' rent[/B], which he told her he would not be able to pay – resulting in his tenancy agreement being cancelled.
But it was not until he arrived in the Capital that he realised the full extent of the scam and he has been unable to get his money back or contact the woman since.
He reported the incident to police on Sunday who told him such complaints were becoming more and more frequent.
Mr Shoji said: "I know what is suspicious in Japan but I don't know this country well so I didn't know if she was reliable."
Mr Shoji is now staying with a friend of a friend, Purnima Kaura, in Newington while he saves up enough money to pay a deposit on another flat.
Mrs Kaura, 53, said: "I went to look for this flat and it doesn't exist.
"We went to police and they said there is a big hoax going on and also that there's a 99.9 per cent chance that his money wasn't cashed in Edinburgh."
Sophy Silver, a spokeswoman for Gumtree.com, said: "As a non-transactional website, under no circumstances would we advise people to transfer any money to landlords.
"We ask people to apply the same rules they would online as they would offline and that they read the safety rulings on the site warning against handing over money before viewing a property and meeting the landlord.
"We are sorry that this has happened and unfortunately this is the way a small number of unscrupulous people are able to get through to our community."
A police spokeswoman confirmed they were investigating the matter.
