Third-level students and their parents have been warned to remain vigilant of accommodation scams as desperation kicks in amid a dearth of digs in the city.

With mounting pressure to secure a room for the academic year, panicking students are being lured into handing over sizable deposits on the digital banking app, Revolut, without even seeing a property – only for the supposed landlord to do a disappearing act with the money.

As ATU pleaded with homeowners to rent out their spare rooms to students this week, its students’ union was reporting extreme ‘a total lack’ of appropriate accommodation around six weeks out from the return to college.

Deputy President for Education at the ATU SU, Charlen Grehan, said they were already being met by students and parents “crying out” for a place to live in September. And that was even ahead of this year’s first round CAO offers coming out at the end of August.

“This year, it is shocking how bad it has got. There just seems to be nothing out there,” said Ms Grehan.

“All of the students accommodation spots, like Glasán, are filled already and students and parents from all over the country are coming to us saying there is nothing to be got.”

This was leading to panic, she said, providing a prime opportunity for scammers to target Galway’s student body.

“We have already seen a few scams. One that has come up in the last couple of years is people being asked to send over huge deposits on Revolut and being told if the money is not sent immediately, the room will be gone.

“They send a couple of pictures of the room but it turns out that the room doesn’t exist and the money is gone. This is getting a lot more prominent,” said Ms Grehan.

Caption: ATU.

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