AFTER the region faces an even bigger squeeze on the rental market post-flood, scammers are increasingly targeting would-be renters on Facebook.
Appearing on Facebook Marketplace or local community groups and noticeboards, the scammers pose as landlords and advertise a local property (usually one that is as rare as hen’s teeth to come by).
When a perspective tenant express interest, they say they are located overseas or interstate and that you must conduct a transaction online to secure a rental agreement.
Scammers in some cases provide real photos, genuine addresses of properties, land title deeds and even scans of stolen passports. They steal funds by asking for a month’s bond and rent to secure the property. If you pay by money transfer, there is extraordinarily little chance of recovering your money.
They may also ask for personal details such as bank and credit card numbers and driver’s licence details, which they use for credit card and identity fraud.
A dead giveaway for these posts is copy and pasted information within the post that may not even match up with the actual property, eg, how many car spaces. Other common signs of suspicious posts are vague messages, low prices, a lack of photos, and no contact information.
While Facebook administrators do their best to filter through and reject these posts, it’s ultimately up to the public to remain vigilant and work to secure a rental property through the usual channels.
