Scams, and the con artists behind them, are forever evolving and becoming more sophisticated and harder to spot.
ACM has compiled a list of current scams identified on sites such as scamwatch.gov.au, cyber.gov.au and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s website dedicated to informing people about fraudulent and dishonest activities.
It’s a rental scam but with a twist
Scamwatch: It’s a rental scam but with a twist
- Rental scams offering places to live have been doing the rounds on social media sites such as Facebook for quite a while but now there’s a new way scammers are avoiding detection.
- Traditionally these scams target people seeking new rental accommodation by offering fake rental properties to convince people into handing over money or personal information.
- The latest scam involves unsuspecting victims being hired to list a property for rent on classified sites.
- The target is being used as a rental mule to pass applicants’ personal information and money to a scammer.
- The scammer may reach out via social media and ask to employ such services as property management, social media expertise or general admin duties.
- They may say that they own multiple properties and want to use a private manager to handle their affairs’ for a fee.
- The scammer may also say they wish to avoid paying ‘exorbitant’ fees associated with professional real estate agents.
- Scamwatch is urging people to be cautious of such advertisements or tactics.
- Scamwatch has issued a warning to anyone…
