Renters warned of scam listings

Spike in fake rentals

POTENTIAL Toowoomba renters have been warned to watch out for fake rental ads on social media, after one resident was scammed out of more than $1000 in “bond”.

Toowoomba chair of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland Katie Knight said she was aware of two agencies that had reported scammers lifting their listings and posting them on either Facebook or online marketplaces like Gumtree.

IThink Property Toowoomba is the latest to caution prospective tenants, saying the number of fake listings was “alarming”.

“Recently, we have noticed an alarming number of rental advertisements on platforms such as Gumtree and FB Marketplace where people are posing as local real estate agencies,” the agency wrote on Facebook.

It’s understood at least one person was caught by a scammer, who asked for the bond in advance for a listing they had either lifted off a legitimate site or fabricated entirely.

Ms Knight said the worrying trend had likely resurfaced in Toowoomba due to the city’s extremely tight rental market, with dozens of people regularly applying for a single property.

“They’ll duplicate a listing, get all the details and put it up on Gumtree or Facebook,” she said.

“What they tend to do is get people to make a payment to hold the property — it’s very much a one-off scam.

“I can understand how people have been caught out in the past.

“It’s really disheartening — it’s not a new activity, but in the last 10 years it comes up from time to time, usually in a specific area.”

She urged residents to do their due diligence before messaging listings that were not on traditional portals like realestate.com.au.

“The easiest way is to ask them to view the property physically, and ask them to meet personally,” she said.