A genuine tenant who advertised on social media for a property has been scammed out of £450 by fraudsters posing as landlords.
Shane Dillon, on the Isle of Wight, was seeking to find new accommodation for his pregnant partner and himself; according to a report on the Island Echo news website, Shane posted on Facebook an appeal for a three bedroom home to let.
A woman called Laura Rayner then introduced herself as a private landlord in Ventnor and passed him 25 photos of the property, alongside written details.
Dillon transferred £450 having been told it was a fully refundable holding deposit, but than found he was blocked when he tried to communicate with the fraudster.
The police and bank have been told, and the agent handling the property to let has confirmed that ‘Laura Rayner’ was not the owner.
You can see the story in full here.
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A hard lesson to learn in that using an agent is a much safer way to rent a property. No 'holding deposit' required.
Social media is a blight on society in so many ways and this is just one of them.
Good agents are worth their weight in gold, but the big one's that employ wet behind the ears youngsters are a waste of time.
Totally agree that the services of a good agent are invaluable, but come on.....
Transferring £450 to someone without checking out the property first? And if not possible to check the property, then what about asking for proof like a passport or something in the Property Owner's name?
Let's not always blame social media for people's stupidity.
The rules wouldn’t be broken if they didn’t make stupid unnecessary rules in the first place, that’s the Blight.
I at not knocking Agents at the same time they employ a lot of young people. The rules are made to make it impossible for many LL’s to comply, they would tie you to the desk instead of letting you run your business, (unless digital academic LL).
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