Speaker 1: You've always got to keep your wits about you because
Speaker 1: those pesky old scammers are trying to steal your details
Speaker 1: or clean out your bank accounts. But when you see
Speaker 1: a Consumer Protection logo you think it's legit, you might
Speaker 1: have to think again because concerning you, wave of rental
Speaker 1: scams is emerging. The scammers and our posing as Consumer Protection.
Speaker 1: Trish Blake is the Consumer Protection Commissioner and she joins
Speaker 1: your live on six pr Is Friday High.
Speaker 2: Trish, Hey, Ollie, it's gonde full sir. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, and this is an incredibly frustrating and concerning development.
Speaker 3: So it's a variation on an existing kind of scam
Speaker 3: theme that we've had. So we know that scammers will
Speaker 3: target people who are desperate to find a rental property,
Speaker 3: and they'll advertise fake rentals and take people's bond money
Speaker 3: and rent in advance, and then the person gets ready
Speaker 3: to move in only to find the house was never
Speaker 3: available for rent. What they're doing now because one of
Speaker 3: the things that what we used to say to people
Speaker 3: is if you pay a bond, make sure you get
Speaker 3: a bond receipt from us, from Consumer Protection or the
Speaker 3: bond administrator to confirm that your bond is being deposited,
Speaker 3: and these scammers are actually issuing fake emails to these
Speaker 3: victims to reinforce the scam or to say it's legit.
Speaker 3: You've paid me a bond, here's your receipt. Now you
Speaker 3: need to pay me more rent in advance. This is
Speaker 3: before the person has even moved into the property.
Speaker 1: And they're using what your logo or pretending that it's
Speaker 1: somehow affiliated with Consumer Protection Trees.
Speaker 3: Yet they're using our logo, they're using our forms, so
Speaker 3: they've copied our our materials. The one thing that they
Speaker 3: cannot copy though, and this is what I want people
Speaker 3: to really look out for, is the email address itself.
Speaker 3: So make sure you hover over or you know, the
Speaker 3: email address to get the true full email address that
Speaker 3: the mat has been sent from, because ours will always
Speaker 3: come from WA dot gov, dot au, coming from Gmail
Speaker 3: and other generic email accounts.
Speaker 1: So people, as you say, we know there's a rental crisis,
Speaker 1: where are they finding their victims? Are they approaching them
Speaker 1: or is it somebody maybe seeing a post for a
Speaker 1: rental property on social media?
Speaker 2: And this is how they try to the lure them in.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look it's both. So we often see a lot
Speaker 3: of advertisements on social media platforms, and these will be
Speaker 3: properties that are being advertised. You'll be told that you
Speaker 3: can go to a drive by that you can't go in,
Speaker 3: and they'll have all sorts of reasons why you can't
Speaker 3: go inside the property, and then they ask for money
Speaker 3: in advance. But we're also seeing and I still see
Speaker 3: it on the social media platforms, people who are desperate
Speaker 3: for a home and they post a wanted you know,
Speaker 3: I need a rental. They ask for help of their community,
Speaker 3: which is understandable, but the scammers, this is that's just
Speaker 3: like a target to scammers, and they just start message
Speaker 3: direct messaging, and I've seen the grooming that these scammers
Speaker 3: do and it is incredible. Like they'll say, look, I'm
Speaker 3: a really good person as a landlord, and I can tell,
Speaker 3: I can feel that you're a good person. And you know,
Speaker 3: for this tenant who's desperately trying to get a property,
Speaker 3: they are a good person. And so to have someone
Speaker 3: reassure them that they're a good person and I'm just
Speaker 3: going to help you out and I'm going to give
Speaker 3: you this property, and yes it's going to be cheaper,
Speaker 3: but just go have a look, make sure and then
Speaker 3: start paying me money. The grooming is very intense, and
Speaker 3: you don't you just don't think that it could be
Speaker 3: a fake?
Speaker 1: Is all the communication done online or of some scammers
Speaker 1: been as brazen to meet people face to face.
Speaker 3: Look, most recently we've had a gentleman who's lost two
Speaker 3: four hundred dollars. That's after he met the scammer face
Speaker 3: to face. Well, you met the fake landlord in person.
Speaker 3: They were outside the property. He said, look, you can
Speaker 3: only look outside. You can't go inside because there's current
Speaker 3: tenants in place. But if you like the look of
Speaker 3: the property and you like the location, I'm happy to
Speaker 3: rent it to you pay me your money now. So
Speaker 3: this poor gentleman lost two four hundred dollars, which would
Speaker 3: have been a bond payment.
Speaker 2: Geez. They have really got their backs up having these scammers.
Speaker 1: So keep our antennas up if we think we've come
Speaker 1: into contact with any of these people locally. Obviously trush
Speaker 1: to get in contact with Consumer Protection because you go hard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely want to get I want to get these
Speaker 3: people because I am not happy that they're using our
Speaker 3: materials to purpose, you know, to double down and really
Speaker 3: impact these poor victims. So please if you see any
Speaker 3: of this behavior, please notify us as quickly as possible
Speaker 3: so that we can work with the police and try
Speaker 3: and take over these locals. But also, if you see
Speaker 3: these ads online, and even if you're not sure before
Speaker 3: you jump in and pay money, even give Consumer Protection
Speaker 3: a call and talk to us over the phone and
Speaker 3: we'll be able to help you talk through and maybe
Speaker 3: help you spot some red flags.
Speaker 1: And if you're thinking that's sort of too cheap at
Speaker 1: the moment, it probably is too good to be true.
Speaker 1: That's a bit of a telltale sign, isn't. If the
Speaker 1: property you think in the local areas maybe five hundred
Speaker 1: a week and this one's two hundred and forty bucks,
Speaker 1: there is something going on.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, if you cannot look inside the walk away, I
Speaker 3: can almost guarantee you it's a scam. If it's way
Speaker 3: cheaper than the local rentals in the area, walk away,
Speaker 3: because it's going to be a scam. And if they
Speaker 3: start telling you how wonderful a person, how they can
Speaker 3: feel you're a wonderful person, and they haven't even met
Speaker 3: you walk away.
Speaker 1: Helene says, Thank goodness, we have people like Trish looking
Speaker 1: after the interests of all of us, vulnerable or not.
Speaker 2: This is why we love you. Trish awesome.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much. I wish we could do more.
Speaker 2: Have a good weekend.
Speaker 3: Thanks Solly, you too,