Rental scam alert
Housing rip-off fraudsters prey on the desperate
A “TOO good to be true” rental offer through Gumtree nearly cost Cat Gamble dearly as more and more scammers are taking advantage of tenants’ desperation.
The 49-year-old has been living in Lenah Valley with her husband and their child for five years, but Ms Gamble found out on Wednesday they needed to vacate by January.
Ms Gamble immediately searched Gumtree for a rental.
A man reached out claiming to be the landlord of a New Town property. He asked for $430 a week in rent.
“He said we could have pets inside the house,” Ms Gamble said.
“It seemed too easy.” But when Ms Gamble asked to drop in, the man told her he was in NSW for work and encouraged her to instead drive past the house.
Ms Gamble noticed people living there, but the mystery landlord assured her they would leave before she moved in October.
He asked for a bond deposit of $1700 into a bank account in a different name.
“He even sent me a contract that I signed,” Ms Gamble said.
Ms Gamble said she queried him on why the weekly rent had changed to $380 in the contract. He responded, “how much did we agree on”?
On Sunday, Ms Gamble told her husband she suspected a scam, so they searched online for the owner of the property.
“The last $27 we had in the account is what we used to find out the name of the real owner,” she said.
“It was the best $27 I have ever spent.”
Ms Gamble said she was only days away from finalising the transfer, which would have been more than half the couple’s savings.
“It would have just been heartbreaking,” she said. “We dodged that bullet and now we’re going to rent through an agent.”
Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Mandy Welling said “terrible individuals” were taking advantage of people in the tough housing market.
“When it comes to bond payments, the request must come from the bond authority, not the landlord,” Ms Welling said.
Tasmania Police Serious Financial Crime Unit Detective Sergeant Paul Turner said there had been a “large increase” in rental bond scams as the pandemic made it difficult for victims to visit properties. He said searching for the agent online and calling them, or doing a reverse Google search of the advertised property, could help uncover scammers.
He encouraged people to inspect the property in person and watch for poorly written communications from socalled landlords.
“Do an independent search for a phone number and speak to the property manager over the phone or arrange a meeting in person,” he said.
“Never provide your personal details via email.”