Here’s a story from today’s Irish Times which restores one’s faith in human nature. Or human nature as viewed by H.L. Mencken anyway…

Prospective tenants arrived at an apartment in the Sweepstakes in Ballsbridge [a high-status residential area on the south side of Dublin] on Tuesday, Wednesday and yesterday with keys to the two-bedroomed apartment they had been given by a man who claimed to be the landlord. They discovered that the keys did not fit.

The tenants had responded to an advert on popular accommodation website Daft.ie offering the apartment for a rent of €1,150 a month. A man calling himself Alan Grogan invited them to view the fully furnished apartment on Good Friday.

A large number of people attended the open viewing. Those who were interested were told to contact Mr Grogan on his mobile phone.

He offered each prospective tenant the apartment and arranged to meet each of them at a different location. He asked for a cash deposit of €1,150 plus a month’s rent in advance. He provided each tenant with a set of keys, a lease agreement, which he signed, and a receipt for the money paid out.

It is understood that some 15 couples arrived over three days to move into the accommodation.

Er, daft, isn’t it?