A convicted fraudster is expected to appear in court after allegedly duping people into believing they had rented farmhouses in Gozo and handing them bogus keys, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt.

Sources said the 31-year-old man allegedly placed adverts on an online classifieds site and allegedly defrauded around 10 victims of some €5,000 in total.

One victim said: “The photos he used were very attractive and he sounded very convincing, telling us to call him even over the slightest problem. But when we got to the supposed farmhouse, the key would not open the door.”

Another said that when they called the man, he told them he must have given them the wrong key by mistake and promised to come up with an alternative. But they had no option than to try and find bone fide accommodation.

The man is set to be charged with misappropriation and fraud. He appeared before Magistrate Josette Demicoli last week but the case could not proceed because he had no legal representation.

Meanwhile, separate police investigations have also linked the man to another alleged scam involving fake tickets for last June’s Champions League final match between Barcelona and Juventus.

Sources said the man used an alias and offered a group of people discounted tickets to the match in Berlin.

However, the trip turned into an expensive nightmare for the Maltese fans who had allegedly paid €500 deposit for a ticket they never received. They could only watch the match in a Berlin bar.

The man was recently jailed for nine years after admitting to defrauding almost 100 people of more than €120,000 when he took deposits to import cars from the UK but never delivered them.

The same man had also been jailed after fraudulently claiming unemployment benefit.

A similar scam involving the rental of farmhouses in Gozo was uncovered in 2013 and had landed a female serial fraudster in court.