The Portuguese law assists all people that can make proof of a rental scam and be refunded of his / her expenses as long as they follow the procedures.
Decree Law 400/2009 of April 14th and recently decree law 61/2011 of May 6th says so.
The day the problem occurs is the day to start this process of gathering the information and establishing the contact. There is a short period of time to fulfill the requirements, we hope this information is good enough for people suffering this sort of problem.
Best wishes.