Owners and agents ‘horrified’ to find their rental listings mimicked by fraudsters

Homeowners and agents have been horrified to find fraudsters seizing on the rent crisis are duplicating Aussie rental property ads to swindle would-be tenants.

Fraudsters are duplicating online rental listings on a little-known rental site in an effort to trick tenants into paying bonds and rent money to them.

Heartless scammers are homing in on desperate tenants in a new rental swindle that has ripped one off by $1800 just weeks from Christmas.

The scam, in which fraudsters copy genuine lease and even short-term stay ads onto a little known real estate platform and pose as the landlord to claim bonds and rental money, is feared to be running nationwide.

Real estate agents and landlords from Frankston to Werribee, Caroline Springs and beyond have been horrified to find their properties listed without their knowledge on the site.

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Similar scams have operated on social media for some time, but the use of a dedicated real estate website has industry members concerned — particularly as a rental crisis makes tenants increasingly desperate.

The website, rentola.com.au, purports to have more than 20,000 rentals available on it — including more than 7000 in Victoria. It even features a blog with tips for avoiding housing fraud and scam ads.

However one would-be tenant is alleged to have lost $1800 after engaging with a listing on the website.

A Werribee house advertised on Rentola without the knowledge of the owners or agents.

An email exchange seen by the Herald Sun shows fraudsters claiming to be the landlord telling their victim they were unhappy with the real estate agency they had engaged and were seeking to lease the home directly.

They then brazenly instructed them to attend an open-for-inspection, but not to speak with the real estate agency’s property manager.

Real Estate Institute of Victoria director Wendy Steel, who is also head of property management for Max Brown Real Estate, broke the sad news to the would-be tenant.

“They (the scammers) are taking money off of people who are vulnerable and desperate,” Ms Steel said.

“And I think more people are going to be susceptible to it because of the rental crisis. It’s just wrong.”

Inside a Frankston studio apartment listed on the website without the owners’ knowledge.

A rentola.com.au spokesman said the site acquired listings from other sites without a pay wall and landlords were the agencies they acquired rental listings from.

They also noted some listings on the site had incorrect pricing and that they were making efforts to amend and edit them.

“We are also aware of scammers that try to scrape tenant profile’s from our websites by creating fake landlord profiles,” the spokesman said.

“We’re in progress of implementing new validations in order to block the scammers from having any kind of access to tenant profiles.”

PropTrack figures showed Melbourne had a record low number of affordable homes for rent in September, with less than one in five available for lease under $400.

REIV chief executive Quentin Killian said the scam was being encountered nationwide, as were older formats hosted on sites including Gumtree and Facebook.

“I would suggest that the driver for the activity is that they (scammers) are aware of the shortage of stock and rising prices,” Mr Killian said.

“If you do come across this scam, report it to Consumer Affairs.”

Consumer affairs websites carry warnings about similar scams and urge tenants to be wary when they are not able to meet a landlord or their agent in person at the property.

The Institute boss added that more social and affordable housing, as well as government incentives to boost private rentals, could help avert future rental crises and make it less likely otherwise intelligent people would become desperate enough to be sucked in by scammers.

Another Frankston address agents were shocked to find listed on the website.

Tenants Victoria lead community education lawyer Ben Cording said renters were under great stress at present and warned it was possible many had already fallen victim to scammers, but were too embarrassed or ashamed to report their ill fortune.

Mr Cording urged tenants to be cautious if anything about a listing seemed off and encouraged the state government to look at the scam data and for ways they might be able to intervene.

HockingStuart Frankston director Aaron Frolling confirmed three of the agency’s listings had been fraudulently placed on the website.

One was almost $40 a week less than it was legitimately advertised for elsewhere and another property appearing on the site without the firm’s knowledge belongs to one of the agency’s directors.

A Caroline Springs home was also listed on the site without its owner’s or agent’s consent.

“In my 22 years I have never seen anything so brazen,” Mr Frolling said.

“Our rental team was horrified.”

The firm will now be displaying warning signs at open for inspections to warn prospective tenants rental scammers are active.

The Herald Sun spoke with directors at five Melbourne real estate agencies who had multiple properties appearing on the site. None were aware of the listings, nor were their landlords.

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