Young Victorians attempting to secure rental properties have fallen prey to an elaborate scam leaving them thousands of dollars out of pocket.
Sophie Gibbons, 24, joined popular Facebook property listing community Fairy Floss in the hope of leasing a rental property in Melbourne as she was moving from Townsville.
On August 24, Sophie saw a post on the page for a ‘perfect’ one-bedroom apartment in Queens Road, Melbourne, and quickly contacted the person who had posted the listing.
Sophie said the listing ‘wasn’t suspicious at all’.
Sophie Gibbons (pictured) believed she had found the perfect rental property via a listing on Facebook
‘He sounded pretty genuine, and he was telling me he’s going to (work at) the mines,’ Sophie told 7NEWS.
The man, Andrew (not his real name), said he wasn’t the landlord but was looking to move out and transfer his lease to someone else.
A date was arranged for Sophie’s partner to go and inspect the property, with the landlord expected to meet him there.
Stephen Irvine, 27, also saw the man’s post on Facebook and messaged him expressing his interest.
Sophie’s partner and Stephen both inspected the property on August 27, about 30 minutes apart.
They both met a man with a different name to the one they had initially contacted.
This man, Greg (not his real name), told Sophie’s partner he was the landlord, but he told Stephen he was Andrew’s friend.
Stephen said he was able to built rapport with Greg as he had also moved to from the UK.
‘He seemed around the same age as me and seemed like a normal fella so I guess we sort of bonded (in) that way,’ Stephen told 7NEWS.
Sophie’s partner also reported that Greg seemed like a normal kind of person and could see no obvious ‘red flags’.
Sophie Gibbons realised after signing a lease and handing over $3000 that she had been the victim of a property scam
Both Sophie and Stephen expressed their interest in securing the unit and were given an email address to contact, supposedly belonging to the man at the inspection.
Just days later, they were both told they were successful applicants and sent a lease to sign after which they both paid paid $3000 upfront – a $1500 bond and $1500 for the first month of rent.
But when they attempted to pick up the keys for the property, alarm bells went off.
Stephen arranged to meet Greg at the unit on September 4, but was never given details on what time to meet.
Stephen emailed the man who then promptly apologised, claiming he had been involved in a family emergency.
Greg asked Stephen to go to the apartment to get the keys on another day, but Stephen had started to get worried that something was ‘suspicious’.
‘I had got in contact with the bank and went to the police and while I was in the bank, filing the report for a scam, Greg had emailed me saying, ‘Yeah can you meet me today for the apartment keys?’.’
However, as soon as Stephen tried to arrange a time, Greg stopped replying and he never heard from him again.
Sophie Gibbons and Stephen Irvine were shocked to realise they had been scammed by a man claiming to be a landlord (stock image)
Sophie’s partner had arranged to meet Greg at the apartment on September 6 but Greg never showed up.
Sophie attempted to call the man but the number had been disconnected.
After realising something wasn’t right, Sophie decided to look up the property on Google and quickly discovered that it was actually being used as an Airbnb.
Sophie saw the apartment had only just been listed online for rent by a real estate company and when she called the agent she was informed that she’d fallen for a scam, which had also affected others.
‘My partner called the real estate company and (they) said, “We’ve only just put it on the market, it used to be an Airbnb and we’ve had lots of people calling about this property”,’ Sophie said.
It’s understood the scammer had booked the Airbnb for a month between August 7 to August 31, during which they used it to host fake rental inspections.
Stephen has filed a police report and is working with the bank to get his money back.
Sophie has also tried to get her money back has not been successful.
Police have released CCTV footage of a man who they believe can help with their investigation into the scam
The man has been described as aged in his thirties, 180cm tall, with short dark brown hair and has a Liverpool accent
Victoria Police are aware of the scam involving the Queens Road property and say the unit has been used in a ‘string of rental scams in Melbourne’.
They have made a public appeal for any information and have released CCTV of a man they believe can help with the investigation.
Sophie and Stephen both said the man in the CCTV footage was Greg.
The man is believed to frequent the South Melbourne and St Kilda areas and has been described as aged in his thirties, 180cm tall, with short dark brown hair and has a Liverpool accent.
Anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers.