Renters pressured into making deposits by fake property agents, lose over $2m since July last year

At least 389 potential renters lost a total of at least $2.4 million between July 2023 and January 2024 after they were pressured by fake property agents into making payments to secure the viewing or rental of properties.

The victims typically responded to property rental listings online, mostly on Facebook but also on Carousell and rental advertisement sites.

They would generally interact with the scammers through WhatsApp using the contact numbers published in the property rental listing.

During their exchange, the scammers would impersonate a legitimate property agent and convince the victims of their credentials by sending pictures of property agent passes, business cards, pictures and videos or virtual tours of the rental property.

However, the contact numbers provided would differ from the actual contact numbers of the legitimate property agent registered with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).

When the victims asked if they could view the property, the scammers would claim that there was high demand for the property and pressure them into making deposits to secure the property.

The victims would discover that they had been scammed when the fake agents ceased contact with them or when they reached out to the legit agents who were impersonated by the scammers.

In some cases, the victims were asked to meet up with the “personal assistants” of the fake property agents who would help facilitate their viewing of the property.

After the viewing, the victims would be told to provide their personal particulars for the tenancy agreement and to make payments for the rentals through bank transfers or PayNow.

But the scammer or “personal assistants” would cease contact with the victims after receiving payments. At least 144 people lost $917,000 to this method of scamming between July 2023 and January 2024.

The police advise verifying the legitimacy of a property listing by the following means:

• Do not rely on Facebook or Carousell listings or the assurances of the scammer over WhatsApp. Potential renters should verify the identity of the property agents renting out the properties against the CEA Public Register before dealing with them. Check whether the phone number in the property listing belongs to a property agent registered with CEA. To do so, you should key in the advertised phone number on the CEA Public Register at www.cea.gov.sg/aceas/public-register to perform a search. If the search does not lead to a CEA-registered property agent’s profile page, it means that the phone number is not registered with CEA and is likely a scam, even if the property agent’s name and registration number can be found in the CEA Public Register. Contact the property agent only at the phone number registered with CEA.
• Contact the property agent’s agency from trusted sources (such as the CEA Public Register or the agency’s website and not the number given by the Facebook or Carousell advertisement) to verify the authenticity of the listing.
• Potential renters should view the properties in person and check that they are dealing with the actual CEA-registered property agent (not their unqualified assistant) in order to safeguard themselves. Tenants and occupiers should know that under the CEA practice guidelines, property agents are supposed to meet you face-to-face to verify your identity for all residential rental transactions.
• Property agents are not permitted to demand and collect payments to view or rent properties. Payment of rental deposits or rent should be made directly to the landlord using verifiable payment modes such as crossed cheques and bank transfers and must be paid to the landlord’s bank accounts, not the “personal assistants” bank account or unverified PayNow numbers.