Victim: He was 100 per cent confident

Fadi Alhaddadin managed to take a photo of the fake landlord. Photo / Natalie Slade

Fadi Alhaddadin lost $1480 after a man posing as a landlord offered him an apartment in Nelson St, central Auckland.

Mr Alhaddadin met the man for a tour of the property and was offered the two-bedroom apartment for $370 a week about one month ago.

He gave him the money on the spot.

"He said: 'The apartment is going to be vacant on May 13 but before that you need to give me four weeks' [rent] bond, which was $1480.

"He was 100 per cent confident - wasn't even scared."

But, when Mr Alhaddadin went to meet the "landlord" again on May 16, as agreed, to collect a key and pay two weeks' rent in advance, no one came.

So, he went where the man said he lived - another city apartment block - and was told by the property manager that both addresses were fakes and the man had done the same to two other people.

He was initially contacted by the man by phone - which with hindsight he realised was suspicious. He believes the only place anyone could have found his phone number was at the property agency he contacted to say he was looking for an apartment.

While he is out of pocket, Mr Alhaddadin may get the last laugh. He took a video of the apartment using his mobile phone and got a clear image of the man which has been passed on to police.