Ulla and Johannes returned home on Christmas Eve – two Asians with cars were waiting in the yard, who said they were coming to live in the house – 2024-02-26 06:46:51

During the Christmas holidays, tourists who had fallen for a scam appeared in the yard of the Isojärvi residents of Rovaniemi. Illustration image. UNDER LIESIMAA

People from Rovaniemi Ulla and Johannes Isojärvi were returning home last Christmas Eve when the lights visible from the yard caught their attention.

Two cars were parked there, one of which an Asian man got out of.

– The man explained that they had booked accommodation here and asked if this was the right address. The street name and the house number were just right, but we said we wouldn’t rent, Ulla Isojärvi says.

The man showed the couple his cell phone and told the group that he had tried to call the number provided by the renter without success.

Isojärvi thought that the tourists had perhaps gone to the wrong place, and advised the party to a nearby accommodation.

– The situation went smoothly, Johannes Isojärvi describes.

The couple’s Christmas Day was spent in peace. On Boxing Day, the doorbell rings.

There was an Asian man and woman at the door, who said they had booked accommodation at the address. Isojärvi also told them that the house was unfortunately not available for rent.

Later that day, the doorbell rang again. This time, two Peruvian couples had made an accommodation reservation at Isojärvi’s home address.

– There is a tourist entrepreneur who lives next door, who was working in the snow and immediately shouted to us that this is a scam. We talked with him, and he was able to arrange a room in the hotel for the couples, says Ulla Isojärvi.

Report of an offence

The saga continued on a weekday when a letter sent by Booking.com arrived at Isojärvi’s home address. It contained a code that would have confirmed the accommodation status of the house. Heather Kennedy was listed as the recipient.

According to Lapin Kansa, which previously reported on the incident, the Isojärvi house had been on the site for three days. Booking.com told Lapin Kansa that this is a very rare case.

According to the newspaper, Isojärvi’s home address is also used in a scam notification in another service.

Ulla Isojärvi says that Booking.com’s scam notification had pictures of the interior of the luxury accommodation and a summer picture of their garage door. The garage picture was taken from the Google map service.

Isojärvi say that they have filed a criminal complaint about the case.

The incident upsets the couple, especially from the point of view of tourists who made non-existent accommodation reservations. The first party included children, and the tourists said they paid a lot for the accommodation.

– There is a shortage of accommodation here, which is a really fertile ground for scammers, says Johannes Isojärvi.

– People who want to come here may panic, and they don’t bother to check the announcement, but desperately fall for scams, Ulla Isojärvi continues.

Cheat season

Scams related to the renting of non-existent accommodation occur seasonally, says the head of the crime prevention sector, the Commissioner of Crime Pälvi Suokas From the Lapland Police Department.

– Now is the potential time to get scammed, when people are in a hurry to look for accommodation. The market is hot, especially during ski holidays, so there is also a little more fraud.

At the moment, the Lapland police department has two fraud cases in preliminary investigation, related to the renting of non-existent accommodation.

However, according to Suoka, the number does not tell the whole truth. If those who have been scammed are foreign tourists, they will probably file a criminal report in their home country and the Lapland Police Department will not necessarily receive information about the case.

Suokas does not reveal in more detail where in the province the accommodation scams in the preliminary investigation have taken place.

– Things are at the stage where they are not being announced in detail.

According to Suokka, accommodation scams are usually investigated as frauds, but the cases may be associated with other investigation titles.

It is possible to track down the suspects, according to the Criminal Investigation Department. However, it requires that people file a criminal report and the police quickly receive information about, for example, with whom the accommodation reservation has been communicated and where the money has been paid.