Apartment Rental Scams in Ukraine: Common Schemes and How to Avoid Them

Most scams can be spotted before you even call. OLX and the police list these warning signs:

Be equally cautious when a viewing is impossible for one reason or another and the conversation is pushed into a messenger app. Compare prices with other offers. As a benchmark, the median asking rent for long-term apartments in Cherkasy on OLX was 20,000 UAH a month as of 29 September 2026, and 16,000 UAH for a one-bedroom. If a similar flat is offered far cheaper, double-check everything.

• a price well below similar apartments;
• the same photos appear in listings from other cities;
• photos of different sizes;
• the poster's account was created very recently;
• pressure to act now: “dozens of people want it”, pay a deposit to “hold” the flat;
• a request to follow a link and pay for something.

Ukraine's National Police and Cyber Police name renting out a non-existent home for a prepayment as one of the typical schemes. The “owner” asks you to send a deposit to a card to “reserve” the flat because demand is high, or invents a story such as “I got a flat tyre on the way, please transfer the money”. Once you pay, you are simply blocked.

The rule is simple: no prepayment before you have seen the flat and met the landlord. OLX advises against sending money to cards or mobile numbers until you have viewed the property or signed the lease, and the Cherkasy regional police recommend paying only after you arrive and check everything. Honest landlords, OLX notes, ask for payment when the lease is signed and the keys are handed over.

If you are relocating from another city or country and can't come in person, ask someone you trust to view the flat or request a live video call from inside it, and check the owner in the property register. Even a video doesn't replace a lease, though: hand over money only after signing.

Here the scammer offers to “pay for the booking through OLX” and sends a link to a page that looks like OLX. It asks for your card number, expiry date and CVV, and then the money is gone. In reality, booking a home on OLX works only through the Booking Calendar in the listing and involves no payment through the service. OLX states plainly that any request to follow a link and pay is a scam.

How to protect yourself, according to OLX:

• don't click links sent in private messages; OLX does not send SMS or Viber messages about Delivery;
• check the web address: the real domain ends in olx.ua or olx.com, and after “olx.ua” comes a slash, not a dot (a fake example: olx.ua.help);
• never enter card details on third-party sites;
• if you have already entered them, block or reissue the card with your bank right away, ask for the transaction to be reversed, and contact the police and OLX support chat.

The scammer rents a flat by the day, then “lets” it long term, collects a deposit and several months' rent upfront, and vanishes. He never had any right to the flat, so the tenant is left without the money and without a home. The OLX blog has described this scheme.

Your protection here is checking documents. Under Ukrainian law, only the owner or a person they have authorised may rent out a home (Civil Code, art. 761), and subletting is allowed only with the landlord's consent (art. 823). So ask the person renting the flat for:

• their passport, and match the name against the ownership document;
• the ownership document and the technical passport of the property;
• a power of attorney from the owner, if a representative is renting it out;
• the owner's written consent to sublet, if another tenant is renting it out;
• utility bills, which OLX recommends checking for long-term rentals.

Another familiar story is paying “for information”. You are asked to pay for access to a database of flats or for owners' phone numbers, and get a list of outdated or already rented properties in return. OLX notes that this activity is not illegal as such, so read any contract carefully before you sign or pay.

Another sign is bait: you call about a specific flat, hear that it's already taken and are offered “other options” instead. Under OLX rules, such a listing counts as advertising and gets removed. Intermediaries on OLX must post as Business, not as Private person.

How do you check an agency or a realtor? Apply these checks to any agency, Svit Nerukhomosti included. We are an intermediary, so ask our manager about the terms before the first viewing.

• is there a real office, with an address and phone number that match across the website and the listings;
• do they offer a written service agreement with company details;
• do they show the owner's property documents before you sign the lease;
• do they state the fee and what it covers before the viewing;
• do they ask for money before a viewing, whether “for the database” or “for a booking”? If yes, walk away.

In Cherkasy, people look for housing not only on listing portals but also in Telegram channels and social media groups. Rules and moderation there depend entirely on each channel's admins, so the checking is up to you.

The schemes are the same: a “booking” prepayment, fake payment links, fake owners. The police advise checking when the account was created and looking out for the same photos used in different cities. Don't open links from strangers, don't send photos of your passport or bank card, and don't let anyone hurry you into switching to another messenger.

Rental scammers count on you being in a hurry. These checks take little time and cost little compared with losing a deposit and the first month's rent.

For what a lease should contain, see our article on the apartment rental agreement, and for the whole process from search to move-in, read our guide on how to rent an apartment in Cherkasy.

• run the listing photos through a reverse image search; if they show up in other cities or with another address, that's a red flag;
• order an extract from the State Register of Real Property Rights: online via the Diia app it costs 40 UAH and requires a qualified electronic signature;
• check the landlord's passport with the State Migration Service tool for invalid documents;
• make sure the name matches across the passport, the ownership document and the register;
• view the flat in person and make sure the keys actually work;
• sign a written lease, which Ukrainian law requires (Civil Code, art. 811), together with a handover report.

Act immediately; don't wait for the “owner” to get back to you.

In police reports, such cases are classified as fraud under Article 190 of Ukraine's Criminal Code. The Cyber Police number 0 800 50 51 70 is for updates on complaints already filed online; to report a new case, call 102 or use the online form.

• call your bank: block or reissue the card and ask them to try to reverse the transaction;
• save the evidence: screenshots of the listing and chats, phone and card numbers, transfer receipts;
• report it to the police on 102 or file a complaint with the Cyber Police at ticket.cyberpolice.gov.ua;
• report the listing or account to OLX support or to the channel admins;
• stop communicating with the scammer and don't send any more money.