A man who conned dozens of expats and international students out of a total of €100,000 by posing as an estate agent appeared in court in a procedural hearing on Wednesday, the Parool reports

Mohammed Farhan M (29) told the judge he needed the money to finance his gambling addiction and pay off debts.

In 2018 and 2019 M conned at least 42 people out of thousands of euros in prepayments and deposits for rental properties that turned out not to be for rent at all. M did not raise any suspicions because he was registered under his own name at the chamber of commerce and produced a copy of his ID.

M was arrested in November on suspicion of fraud following police reports by 13 of his victims. In the period before his trial, which he was allowed to await in freedom, he continued to offer non-existent rental properties to unsuspecting foreigners, the paper said. In June he was caught again.

The judge rejected a request from M’s lawyer release him from custody until the main hearing on January 8 because of the likelihood that M would repeat the offence.