Fake rental scams: red flags and how to check before you pay

Fake rental scams: red flags and how to check before you pay

The listing is perfect: a bright unit in a great area for well under what everyone else is asking. The "landlord" replies quickly on WhatsApp and is friendly, but there's a catch: they live interstate or overseas, lots of other people are interested, and they need a deposit today to hold it for you. If you pay, the place doesn't exist, or it isn't theirs, and your money is gone. It's the fake rental scam, and it works because it mixes the rush of the rental market with instant, hard-to-reverse payments.

How does the scam work?

The script barely changes:

1. The bait. They copy photos from a real listing (on another site, in another city or country) and advertise the place at a bargain price, noticeably below the going rent. Enough to trigger your bargain alarm, not so much that it looks impossible.
2. Contact off the platform. They ask to keep talking on WhatsApp, by text or by phone, away from the listing site's messages, where there'd be a record and where the listing could be reported.
3. The story. The landlord is away (work, a family matter, a divorce) and can't show you the place right now, but there's a queue of people interested. Sometimes they send a photo of a driver licence or passport (fake, or stolen from another victim) to build trust.
4. The urgent deposit. They ask for a few hundred dollars as a "holding deposit" via PayID, bank transfer or even cryptocurrency. "Just to hold it until the inspection." As soon as you pay, they vanish, or ask for a second payment ("the agency needs a month's rent upfront").
5. The variations. Sometimes there is an inspection, but an accomplice shows you around, or they arrange to meet you at some random address and never turn up. Another variation: they ask for your details "for the lease" (driver licence, passport, payslips) on top of the money, and the haul includes your identity.

Notice what every version has in common: paying before checking, through a channel with no buyer protection. It's the same trap as other instant-payment scams, such as the fake "PayID upgrade fee" on online marketplaces: the money leaves your account instantly and is very hard to get back.

What red flags give away a fake rental?

None alone is proof, but two or three together mean walk away:

• A price well below the market for that area. Compare it with similar places in the same suburb.
• Photos that appear in other listings. Run a reverse image search: if the same photos advertise places in different cities, it's fake.
• The landlord can't show you the place but can take your deposit. That imbalance says it all: checking is hard, paying is easy.
• Artificial urgency: "I've got three people waiting", "if it's not today, someone else gets it". Urgency is the tool to stop you checking.
• They want money before the inspection, by PayID, bank transfer or gift cards. No legitimate rental asks you to pay before you've even seen the place.
• A dodgy or non-existent lease: no owner or agent details, no property details, or simply "we'll sign once you've paid the deposit".
• The bond goes to them. In Australia, the rental bond is lodged with your state or territory's bond authority. A "landlord" who wants the bond in cash or paid into a personal account is a red flag.
• The advertiser's phone number has reports against it. Look it up in the spam numbers directory: these scammers reuse numbers, and they're often already flagged.

How do I check a listing before paying?

Work through this list in order, and don't pay anything until you've finished it:

1. Look up the phone number in the spam numbers directory and in a general search engine. If it's linked to several listings or to scam reports, walk away.
2. Reverse-search the listing photos. If they turn up on other sites, in other cities or in other countries, walk away.
3. Insist on inspecting the property in person before paying a cent. No exceptions: no "I'll send you a video", no "my cousin can let you in next week". No inspection, no payment.
4. Ask for proof that they own or manage it: the owner's identity and documents showing they own the property, or the agency's details if an agent manages it. You can also order a title search from the state or territory land titles office to see who owns it. If they refuse, walk away.
5. Be wary of a rushed lease: a genuine rental is signed with both parties identified, a condition report and a bond lodged with the bond authority. Read everything before you sign, and never sign under pressure.
6. Only pay by traceable methods, once you've inspected the place and checked who owns or manages it: a bank transfer to the person or agency named in the paperwork, with every payment in writing, never an instant payment to a third party or cash without a receipt. And never pay "to view the property".

What do I do if I've already paid the deposit?

Act fast, even though your options are limited:

1. Keep everything: the listing (screenshots), the conversations, payment receipts, phone numbers, the so-called lease and any ID they sent you.
2. Contact your bank straight away. Whether you paid by bank transfer or PayID, ask them to try to recover the money and to record what happened; the sooner you call, the better. You'll find more on what to do after a scam on our blog.
3. Report it to your state or territory police and online through ReportCyber, which you'll find via the AFP's cybercrime page, with all the material. Give them the phone number and the payment details: those are the lines of investigation. The AFP also explains which crimes it handles and how to report them.
4. Report the listing to the website and the number in the spam numbers directory to stop the next victim being reeled in. You can also report it to Scamwatch, the national scam-reporting service.
5. If you sent your driver licence, passport or payslips, keep an eye on your accounts and contact IDCARE (1800 595 160) for free help with possible identity theft.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to pay a deposit if they send a photo of the landlord's driver licence? No. A photo of an ID proves nothing: it can be fake, stolen or someone else's. Only pay a deposit after you've inspected the property, checked who owns or manages it and got the arrangement in writing.

The place exists and I've seen it from outside. Is that enough? No. Seeing the building or the front of the house doesn't prove the person renting it to you owns it. You need to go inside and check who owns or manages it.

Are the well-known rental sites free of these listings? No. Sites remove fake listings when they detect them or they're reported, but scammers keep reposting. Checking is up to you on every site, whether it's realestate.com.au, Domain, Flatmates.com.au, Gumtree or any other.

They're only asking $50 "for inspection booking fees". Could that be legitimate? No. Charging you to view a rental isn't legitimate practice: it's the cheap version of the same scam, which works because "it's only $50" and hardly anyone reports it.

In short

With rentals, the legitimate order is non-negotiable: listing, inspection inside, proof of who owns or manages the place, everything in writing, and only then a traceable payment, with the bond lodged with the bond authority. Anything that flips that order (paying before you've seen it, an urgent PayID payment, a landlord you can never meet) is the fake rental scam in one of its forms. Check the phone number in the NoCall spam numbers directory before you fall for the place, and if you've already paid, contact your bank and report it as soon as possible. More step-by-step guides in our situations section.