A growing number of students looking for a place to live are falling victim to housing scams as the national room shortage continues to put pressure on house hunters.
Data from the national student union LSVb shows that fake rental listings accounted for 11 percent of over 300 reports received in 2025, up from 9.3 percent the previous year.
Sophisticated tactics target vulnerable renters
Scammers are using increasingly realistic methods to trick prospective tenants, often combining scraped photos of real apartments with text generated by artificial intelligence.
In some cases, fraudsters even phone targets while pretending to be landlords or existing roommates, or send fake video tours to build trust before asking for upfront payments.
International students face a particularly high risk because they usually cannot view rooms in person and are less familiar with the local housing market. First-generation students are also targeted, as they may not know that fees charged by brokers for student rooms are illegal under Dutch law.
Preventative measures and market pressure
The student union advises room seekers never to transfer money before a official lease is fully signed. Renter advocates also suggest using reverse image searches to check whether photos from a listing appear elsewhere online under different descriptions.
While reporting fraud to the police is recommended, student representatives stress that the underlying issue remains the shortage of affordable housing.
Until supply increases, desperate searchers will continue to face high risks from predatory schemes, which can complicate the process alongside other surprising legal quirks of renting an apartment.
