Often Students and General Traveler looking for the best bargain end up with very nasty scams with loss of money, not a place to stay upon arrival and no one to complain to.
Watch out and read on to get yourself in a safe corner by dealing only with reputable agencies for your bookings.
Booking through free listing services!
There are many free listing sites out there starting from know ones such as CraigList, Bakeka.it, Annunci.it, and many small others offering a time based free listing for Property Owners. Listing services are free and not checked by any sort of control so basically any person can grab pictures on the internet create a fake listing, offer it at very appealing price and ask for money, after you have sent your money the listing and the owners magically disappear leaving you back to square one with an even smaller budget.
So remember never:
Deal with unlicensed or not reputable agencies and sites.
Not only scam hides in free listing but also withing first time agencies, unreliable property owners and more. Every company selling rentals on the internet should meet some pre requisites such as a company number or codice fiscale, a way of dealing that is fast and accurate in response.
Working on commission offline or online requires from italian agencies to be registered at the chamber of commerce and have a license that proves you are a real agency.
Photos: john