Crook rents out somebody else's apartment for big bucks!

Norwegian crook makes $32,000 by renting out apartment he broke into
at 5:42 on May 26, 2005, EST.

OSLO, Norway (AP) - An enterprising Norwegian found a way to turn a tidy profit on Oslo real estate by renting out a nice apartment in a popular part of town.

What the renters didn't know was that the 29-year-old man, whose name has not been released, had broken in to someone else's apartment and rented it out to 11 different people, national news media reported Tuesday. Police said the man admitted to breaking into the apartment and posting photographs of it on an Internet real estate site. He then allegedly asked for a bargain 5,000 kroner, or the equivalent of about $900 Cdn, per month in rent.

Since such an apartment normally costs 35 per cent more in Oslo, about 60 hopefuls flocked to the con man's showing.

Eleven people were so eager to rent the space they each paid a $3,000 deposit. About $32,600 was transferred to the swindler's bank account.

Ingrid Christensen, of the Oslo police, told Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, that the money was found in the suspect's bank account and he would face fraud charges.

The real renter was travelling at the time of the showings and has now changed all the locks.