A few tips to ensure a secure experience on ideal flatmate

A few tips to ensure a secure experience on ideal flatmate

ideal flatmate is an online community of people searching for a room and people to live with. We take trust very seriously and recommend that you certify your profile by going through our user verification process. This enables you to communicate in confidence and safety while using the site. Please also have a read of the following guidance and be aware of the issues raised below.

Please get in touch with us as soon as possible if you come across a user with suspicious behavior by emailing us at [email protected]

How you can keep yourself safe:

Is the room too good to be true?

Is the room too good to be true?

  • Is the room ideally located, in a sought-after neighbourhood or in the city center?
  • Is the rent for the room particularly low compared to the average in that location?
  • Is the room available to move in straight away?
  • Are the photos of the room of high quality?
  • Do you feel like you found the dream room deal? 

If your answer is yes for at least two of these questions, please dig deeper. This room could be a scam. A typical behavior from fraudsters is to claim they are abroad. They behave this way to avoid the viewings, but they will ask you to transfer the money. Please be on guard with rooms that seem too good to be true.

Is the person asking for money before arranging a viewing?

Is the person asking for money before arranging a viewing?

  • Is the person you are communicating with asking you to transfer money to book the flat, as a holding deposit?
  • Are they asking you for an international money order, for example with Western Union or MoneyGram?

If your answer is yes, it is likely you are dealing with a fraudster. Unless you are booking through the ideal flatmate system, never transfer money before viewing the room and signing the contract. It is very difficult to track international money orders and almost impossible to retrieve the money so it's better to be safe rather than sorry.

Is the person insisting on communicating via emails rather than using the ideal flatmate messaging system?

Is the person insisting on communicating via emails rather than using the ideal flatmate messaging system?

  • Is the user offering a room asking you to communicate solely with their personal email address?

The ideal flatmate messaging system is secure and ensures the ideal flatmate team has a history of user messages. 
This enables us to quickly identify and block fraudulent users and behaviors. 
We recommend you continue discussions through the safe messaging system on ideal flatmate.