Kiwis ripped off in UK flat-letting scam

Two New Zealanders are among a string of London victims who each lost thousands of dollars to conmen who broke into a vacant home and "rented" it to people who handed over cash.

New Zealanders Kirsty Horne and Benjamin Somerset, both 27, have had to move back into their old accommodation, the London Evening Standard reported.

They paid £2400 ($5100) to two men who claimed to be brothers named Khan, and moved in that night, only to return home the next day to find their belongings out on the street.

Detectives are hunting two men who "let" the two-bedroom garden flat, in a Victorian house in West Hampstead. It had a garden, a patio and was close to a train station on the Jubilee line.

Britons caught out by the same scam included Daniel Simpson and his girlfriend Cristina Monachello, who are expecting their first baby and who lost their £2500 life savings.

They are now struggling to afford the most basic provisions for their new baby, the newspaper reported.

Mr Simpson, 30, an IT analyst, and Ms Monachello, 29, an accounts assistant, told how they had turned up at the flat to find four women unpacking boxes - that group had paid the conmen £2240.

Camden police have taken away the fake tenancy agreements to test for fingerprints.

- NZPA