Students beware of rental scams

[hotspur]

With all the students starting uni education very soon and looking at shifting closer to uni etc,be cautious of any rental opportunity that sound too good to be true.

My son went looking around on internet,and 'found' a property at spring hill Brisbane for $100 a week which included amenities.He asked the chap about it,only to find in his reply he claimed to be in U.S on business,and need to get it sorted 'quickly'-this could be done by paying deposit into a WESTERN UNION BANKING account,which had me thinking this is not good-its the same ones used in those Nigera scamers.After deposit a courier would deliver a key from Brisbane airport DHL safe box.......(the 'Will Robertson robot' inside my head was really singing its famous saying!)

A few emails sent by the hoaxer,made me feel,that some poor people would get stung by these bogus rental properties,that appear targeted at students.

My son went crook at me,saying I lived in the eighties- (oh how I wish I could go back to the future:shrug:).But I feel I made the right call,and a bit disappointed he nearly got hood winked by a two legged dingo.Thankfully no deposits made,just a few emails.

So any students out there heading off to find accom in inner city areas-beware!-

[naskies]

Hi Chris,

I'd have to agree with you on this one... these types of scammers are very well known amongst online accommodation websites. I've heard of many people falling victim to them both here in Aus and in the US.

Many websites advise people to be wary of things like overseas/absent owners, needing to sort things quickly, paying deposits - especially to Western Union, etc.

It's a good thing he has someone to help watch out for him... even if he doesn't appreciate it yet!


Cheers,

Dave

[hotspur]

Yes Dave-thanks for your feed back.

Quite a cunning job,but once I saw the western banking-I knew it looked dodgy-I checked around a bit more and it certainly appeared a hoax.

I played out some line,and watched how the fish swam.It was certainly a notch up than the usual guppies,and people could get caught.

The hoaxer claimed to be male,but I got the feeling it was a female sending the emails,just a few things on capital letter non placement,and other tiny things.

Also,the hoaxer claimed to be in US,looking at the time line-all replies coming through at around 1 am to 3 am,-I usually have to wait at least a day when getting replies from US when doing business.

Anyhow hope someone here might be a bit more aware,if in a similar situation.

[gary]

Hi Chris,

You might like to show your son this article that appeared in the Sydney Morning
Herald back in April 2010 and he might then appreciate his old man is more street
wise than he is. ;)

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/exposed-sydneys-great-rental-ripoff-20100410-rzsf.html

[hotspur]

Great article Gary:thumbsup:-thanks for that.Certainly very interesting reading,and exactly the model used in the hoax we saw.

Going by the article in your link-quite a few been burned,its an area for scamming that I had not known about-and one would'nt really be aware off,until looking around for a reason-so there might be others IIS'er out there going to look for similar accom-so be aware.

[LewisM]

We own a flat in a group of flats near Sunshine Coast University. We run it ourselves, seperate from the "Mismanagement Pool".

The amount of stories of fraud we have heard from tenants is incredible. Our most recent move-in is from NZ. Had 5 promises of accom, including us, so he flew on over. 4 of the 6 turned out to be fake, and the other would not answer his calls. He was extremelly grateful to us to say the least.

We charge $170 per week, and that includes elec, water, air con, pools (2x), gymansium, entertainment facilities and the rooms are fully furnished, double bed, own ensuite with shower and toilet. The tenants only share the fully equipped kitchen, lounge room and balcony.

[hotspur]

Sounds good Mark,I might move down myself LOL.

If anyone has something similar to Mark's,somewhere near Southbank,and does not have a DHL deposit box LOL,we would be pleased to here.

So far we have him in a tent at coopers plains,but I'll likely drive down and get some good accom for a month for him,after a month he will have meet some other students to work something else.

Those IIS members without teenage kids are so lucky!-the last two years I've rolled off the observatory roof about ten times!,so much time goes into getting them sorted!

[brian nordstrom]

:help: Dont even go there on the Kiwi's , I have rented 2 house's to NZ'rs one are still there , the others had to move ,thats life .
People are strange ...
Brian.