The GNR (National Republican Guard) have issued a warning about the need to adopt security procedures, to prevent scams when renting vacation homes, with the Algarve having the highest number of recorded cases since 2023.
“The analysis of the incidents recorded in the period in question show the districts of Faro (the Algarve) at 95, Porto at 79 and Braga at 70 cases”, say the GNR.
In the specific case of the Algarve, in 2023 43 scams were recorded, the following year 41 and this year, up to June 30th, a total of 11.
Across the country, the GNR recorded 214 scams in 2023, 178 in 2024 and 44 this year (up to the end of June).
There was a “16.8% reduction in the number of fraud crimes in the rental of holiday homes, comparing the year 2023 and the year 2024”.
This reduction reflects, according to the GNR, “not only the impact of the preventive and awareness-raising actions carried out”, but also the “continuous commitment” of the GNR “in combating crime and detecting these suspicious and illicit activities”.
Sixty people were arrested for these types of crimes in 2023, 29 in 2024, and 12 this year as of June 30th. A total of 140 suspects were identified for these same crimes in 2023, 138 in 2024, and 33 in the first half of 2025.
