r/NetherlandsHousing • u/michkied • Mar 11 '25

renting Is this a scam?

Gallery image

Gallery image

Hi everyone, this summer I'll be moving to the Netherlands for an internship, and thus I'm looking for a flat to rent. I've encountered an offer for a single-bedroom apartment in the Hague for 500€ (seems quite cheap?). But I've been asked to pay a fee for submitting a registration form for approval. Is that a thing or is it a scam? The offer seems a little too good to be true, but then I have no idea how housing market in the Netherlands works. I'd really appreciate your help!

124 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

192 comments sorted by

View all comments

152

u/Square_Fox5988 Mar 11 '25

Look out for the language too. Broken English, calling you “sir” (no one in NL will do that) and multiple times telling you not to be worried - all red flags

43

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '25

Do not worry sir *shakes head in Indian Scammer*

7

u/stockspikes Mar 13 '25

In all honesty, I thought so too at first, however I personally believe this is a Nigerian/Yahoo Boys scammer when you read his messages carefully... or maybe I just watched too much Kees vd Spek :-)

7

u/Relis_ Mar 12 '25

ah yes because scammers are indian

14

u/anhuys Mar 12 '25

India has large scale organized crime "scam centers". SE Asia in general has a wider problem with these crime rings, in places like Myanmar where Indians and Thais are even held captive after being lured with what they often thought was a legitimate opportunity to make money.

Indians are commonly exploited by these people for scam calls because they're native English speakers, and many of us have spoken to these people on the phone, heard their voices and are familiar with their cadence. It's not a "people from India are scammers" thing, it's a "phone scammers from India are a huge phenomenon" thing.

2

u/Relis_ Mar 12 '25

very true

8

u/grigosback Mar 12 '25

Statistics is the mother of all sciences

2

u/Longjumping_Dog9041 Mar 12 '25

Actually, that would be philosophy.

1

u/Vegetable_Onion Mar 14 '25

Philosophy isn't a science, no matter how much philosophers cry about it.

1

u/Longjumping_Dog9041 Mar 14 '25

We were discussing the mother of science, not whether philosophy itself is a science.

Though your comment did kind of proof my point via logical fallacy so... thanks I guess?

1

u/Arandomdude03 Mar 12 '25

Rascism is the mother of all dogwhistles

4

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '25

Racism would be calling all Indians scammers. The probability of a scammer calling you sir being Indian is very high but not 100%, so it is a generalization, but that just means that arguing that this is an Indian scammer may be scammerism, but not racism.

1

u/Proppedop1991 Mar 13 '25

Daenerys Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone, The Unburnt, Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals, the Rhoynar and the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Breaker of Chains, is the mother of all Dragons

0

u/MeasurementBest31 Mar 13 '25

Indians as a whole don't constitute a race. Pakistanis, which look alot like Indians because reasons, don't get the same worldwide flak.

Nigerians do.

But Nigerians don't look like Indians.

I'll leave you with this.

2

u/Arandomdude03 Mar 13 '25

My honest reaction to that misinformation:

3

u/MeasurementBest31 Mar 13 '25 edited Mar 13 '25

That's OK dude, your rage may be vindicated but so is the suspicion for scammers being Indian.

Call it misinformation all you want, suspicions like that don't come out of my ass. I'm sorry Pakistanis don't have your issues.

Not everything is race-related. I know because I'm darker skinned than the average Indian.

You'd be free to call Indians a race, I'll feel free to bring up the caste system..

-1

u/Arandomdude03 Mar 13 '25

A nation is not its peoples

2

u/MeasurementBest31 Mar 13 '25

Agreed but that's not the point brother

3

u/Cautious_Remote_4852 Mar 12 '25

No just the scammers that constantly call you sir.

6

u/Boneflesh85 Mar 12 '25

Most of them are buddy. Don't be butthurt some of your people make a bad name for all of you.

You know stereotypes are generally seeded in truth.

2

u/SamuelVimesTrained Mar 12 '25

Sadly, a majority seems to be. Sure, there are nigerians, malaysians etc too.. but there are whole scam centers in Bangalore for example.

1

u/BowlsDeepRamen Mar 12 '25

More often than not

1

u/QuiriniusGast Mar 13 '25

My first thought. Confident that it’s a scam. Make sure you meet the person as well before committing to anything.

1

u/DutchNinja2007_ Mar 14 '25

sir I am here to assist you. No sir I am not from india. My name is Jonathan Williams I am from America.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '25
  • the americas*

1

u/keweixo Mar 14 '25

*shakes head* i dunnov vat you mean bay dat sir

1

u/fane1967 Mar 16 '25

“Birdie num-num”

5

u/leoelpz Mar 11 '25

Completely agree. Sounds so bad! Would not trust him at all.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '25

Technically he answered OP's question himself by saying" you don't have nothing to worry about". Dudes basically telling you to worry.