Australian renters struggling to find a home amid the housing market squeeze are being targeted by cruel scammers pretending to be landlords.
One woman, from Melbourne, contacted a property owner after she spotted a private rental apartment ad on Facebook.
A private rental is when a landlord handles the property themselves — cutting out the middle-man such as a real estate agent to avoid paying management fees.
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The potential tenant suspected something wasn’t right when the landlord began asking her to put down a $200 “reservation fee” before she even inspected the property.
The renter questioned the landlord about the fee via Facebook Messenger, saying: “If you take the money now and I don’t like the apartment, then what happens?”
The owner implied if the renter was serious about the property, she would need to pay a fee to hold the unit.
“It’s a refundable fee — everything is in the application form that is sent to your email,” the so-called owner claimed.
“I got many people who are interested in the apartment ready to make their reservations. I’m trying to know if you’re ready so I won’t lease for another person.”
Feeling uneasy about the exchange, the renter refused to attach her fee deposit with her application form.
“No worries, if someone saw it before me and took it then, it’s fine,” she texted.
“But I won’t be paying money to reserve. Thank you for your time.”
Moments later, the landlord blocked her on Facebook.
The confused renter decided to share her story in a Facebook group to see if anyone had a similar experience.
“Has anyone encountered this? I was asked to inspect the property and they ask for a reservation fee of $200,” she said.
“She said it will be counted towards the rent and if I didn’t like the apartment then I get a refund.
“Don’t want to accuse anyone of anything but this was weird and she blocked me after.”
Much to her surprise, many quickly responded to her post warning her it’s a “big scam that’s been going around for a while”.
“Scam. I’ve seen ones recently where someone will post a house for private rental, usually restrict comments on the post and ask for DM enquiry then ask for a ‘holding fee’ then disappear. Property was never theirs so when you show up some poor resident is very confused,” one said.
Another warned: “100 per cent a scam, stop engaging with them immediately and do not provide any personal details or money to this person.”
After reading the comments from people warning her about the potential scam, the renter responded: “Thought so! The price was too good to be true”.
Meanwhile, many said renters should never pay a fee to inspect a property — unless it’s a “key fee”, which is usually about $50.
“A key fee is leaving a deposit at a real estate agency to get the key to inspect property yourself, like a security bond. When you’re done inspecting, you return the key and they give your money back,” one explained.
Another shared: “I had an inspection with a $50 bond for the keys — they said I just had to pick up the property keys, go have a look on my own, then come back and return the keys for my $50 back. Was fine. Didn’t end up applying for the place but I thought it was different.”
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