🟢 🟠 🔴
¿Es timo? («Is it a scam?»)
Check a rental listing in Spain before you pay anything. Free, no sign-up.
Invented example
The details belong to nobody. Imagine someone pastes this:
And this is what we send back (the real report for that case). Seeing the example does not use any analysis.
To show it to someone: estimo.patriciollorens.com/en/example
How it works
- Paste the listing (text or link) and your conversation with the advertiser, or upload screenshots. Spanish or English, as it is.
- You get a green, amber or red light, the reason for each sign, and what to check.
- If we suggest a question for the advertiser, add their answer and we look at it all together again.
Also on Telegram: @EsTimoBot (it answers in English if your Telegram is in English, or type /english).
What it does and does not do
- It tells you whether the case looks like known scams: money before a viewing, a landlord abroad, keys sent by courier, a price far below the area…
- It never claims that anyone is a scammer. A warning is a reason to check, not an accusation.
- It sells nothing, shows no flats and contacts nobody on your behalf.
- It is being tested: if you spot a mistake, telling us at info@patriciollorens.com helps a lot.
The golden rule
Do not pay anything, not even a booking fee or deposit, before visiting the property and signing a contract. In the Comunidad de Madrid the deposit («fianza») is lodged with the Agencia de Vivienda Social, and you can ask for the receipt.
Guides
- The «landlord abroad»: how this scam works
- Asked for a deposit before viewing a flat
- How to check the landlord before you pay
- I've paid and think it's a scam: what to do
- Agency fees when renting: do you have to pay them?
- Asked for your ID or payslip before a viewing
- Finding a student room without getting scammed
Warnings
We post how rental scams work on the channel @EsTimoAvisos (in Spanish), with nobody's data.
Privacy, in short
- Screenshots are read for the analysis and discarded.
- The text of the case and the report are kept for 30 days and then deleted.
- The advertiser's phone numbers, IBANs and names are kept only as an irreversible fingerprint, to recognise listings that repeat.
- The analysis is done by an OpenAI AI model that does not train on this data.
All the details are in the privacy policy. Are you a landlord and think your details are in our registry by mistake? Write to us and we will stop using them.