The special police unit for economic crime, NSK, has warned students over bad actors in the rental housing sector as they look for somewhere to live prior to commencing their studies.

Thousands of students were last week offered places at Danish universities, meaning that rental housing in university towns is set to be in high demand.

But scammers take advantage of an affordable housing shortage in cities like Copenhagen, police said as they warned students over the matter.

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“Every year we have housing scammers who cheat people into paying a deposit or advance rent for an apartment that doesn’t exist,” Kresten Munksgaard, head of section for Prevention and Analysis with NSK, told the Ritzau newswire.

Munksgaard said that a good rule of thumb is that if an offer sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

“If you see a mega-cheap, three-room apartment in Copenhagen at a very low price, then you should be be extra careful because unfortunately, those don’t grow on the trees,” he said.

Police recommend would-be tenants always go out and see the apartment in person and always ask the landlord to show ID. That enables them check whether the person is the real owner of the home using public records (tinglysningen in Danish).

“If you are transferring money, use an electronic money transfer so there is a money trail to follow if you are unlucky enough to be scammed,” Munksgaard also said.

Police received 201 reports last year of rental housing scams, according to NSK.

The majority of those affected live in the Copenhagen police district.

The housing shortage also impacts international students in Copenhagen, who often struggle to find affordable housing.

As recently reported by The Local, international students – already at the disadvantage of navigating a new country and system – can be pushed so far on to the fringes of the rental market that they end up living at informal tenancies and registering their addresses elsewhere, putting themselves in a vulnerable legal grey area.