Sophisticated rental scam conning tenants out of thousands – and why you NEVER pay rent in advance

A young woman is among at least eight people to lose tens of thousands of dollars in a sophisticated rental scam.

Geyatri Azzumi thought she’d landed the ideal apartment, a fully furnished, modern apartment within her budget in the heart of Melbourne.

But only days after forwarding more than $10,000 in deposits to secure the unit, the man posing as a real estate agent went quiet on her.

A young woman hoping to rent out an ideal apartment on 11 Rose Lane (pictured) has fallen victim to a sophisticated rental scam

The apartment on Rose Lane, only minutes walk from Southern Cross Railway Station, seemed too good to be true for the young woman, complete with a gym and rock-climbing wall.

So it wasn’t a surprise to her when her real estate agent ‘Tom’ told her he had other people to show the room to.

But then Ms Azzumi got a call out of the blue from a man claiming to be the landlord, telling her the apartment was hers if she fronted six months rent.

She consented, and transferred $11,000 to bank account under the name ‘auslandscaping’.

She was told she would move into the apartment on November 25.

But after multiple delays in the moving date, Ms Azzumi grew suspicious and asked when she could pick up the keys.

The man on the other end of the phone told her a place and a time, but he never showed up and stopped answering her calls.

‘I called 20 times. He didn’t answer. Then I called [the real estate agent] and he answered on the first time. He said “hello who is this” I said ‘this is Gayeta’, then it was silence. That was the last I heard from them,’ she told The Age.

Ms Azzumi is one of eight people to fall for the scam, which has racked up more than $79,000 in only a month.

Potential tenants looking for a place to live on Facebook, Gumtree or the website Flatmates.com get matched with men claiming to be real estate agents.

Ms Azzumi reached out to a man named Tom on the Facebook group ‘Fairy Floss Real Estate’, which has more than 170,000 members.

In various advertisements for Melbourne properties, Tom writes: ‘NO TIME WASTERS.’

Facebook posts made by Tom in the group ‘Fairy Floss Real Estate’ read: ‘No time wasters’

The scammers rent short-stay properties from online service Iron Fish, a Chinese-focused property agency which denied any knowledge of what was being done at their properties.

They then take people who think they’re looking at a room available for rent, and pose as if they are the ones selling it – complete with phoney paperwork. 

The supposed real estate agents then tell their customers a lot of people are interested in the room, and it will take some time before they can let them know.

That is, unless a massive advance on rent payments can be provided as a ‘deposit’.

When the scammers have the money, they go silent on the victims and make away with thousands of dollars.

The scammers also offer to lease apartments in the EQ Tower (pictured), which is frequently featured in short stay rental services

The scammers also offer to lease apartments in the EQ Tower (pictured), which is frequently featured in short stay rental services

Tracking them down is next to impossible as well, as Ms Azzumi found.

When she searched for ‘auslandscaping’, the bank account name she deposited the money to, she came across a construction company not involved in the scam.

The owner of the construction company, Brenton Wilder, has been operating under the name for the past six names, and now faces the lengthy and expensive process of rebranding.

‘I’ve contacted ASIC … essentially I’ve got to close the whole company down. Look at the possibility of starting an entirely new company,’ he said.   

Tom was arrested in Sydney and charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception.

He will appear before Melbourne Magistrate’s Court in April.

The Facebook post that Tom used to source scam victims has more than 170,000 members

The Facebook post that Tom used to source scam victims has more than 170,000 members

The address listed on his site leads only to an 83-year-old woman, who has been approached by people demanding a refund for money she hasn’t taken.

The elderly lady now fears for her safety, padlocks her doors and says: ‘I shouldn’t have to live like this.’

A Victoria Police investigation is underway. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk