27 People Tricked into Paying Deposit for Same Apartment - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.

When it comes to renting apartments, everyone understands that if you put a deposit, you are going to get that apartment. That wasn't meant to be for some prospective renters in Sweden.

Scammers conned 27 people into paying a nearly $3000 deposit for the same apartment.

The apartment is located in Stockholm and was listed on an internet home rental site. Fraudsters had even given those individuals an opportunity to inspect the apartment.

Eventually, they were arrested after the prospective tenants got suspicious upon learning that the apartment is no longer available.

In total, the fraudsters had collected over $80,000 in deposits.

Scams come in all forms including a text message. Many in Australia got a targeted SMS recently which said - “Sum 1 paid me to kill you. If you want me to spare you, I'll give you two days to pay $5,000. If you inform the police or anybody, you will die, I am monitoring you. E-mail me now”

Then there's the identity theft in which the perpetrators stick adhesive on the inside of public mailboxes and retrieve the mail that people put into the box before the mailman has a chance to empty.