Scams are ever present in today’s society. From phone calls to fake deposits, a handful of people lose money to these unethical scammers every year.
This year, a new type of scam has come into trend.
According to the police, around 997 people have lost a total of $3.9 million since January 2022 after being scammed by scammers posing as property agents.
How the Scam Works
The police have stated that these kinds of property scams start off with victims responding to online listings and conversing with the scammers.
During the conversation, scammers would usually send the victims a fake name card to prove that they are a “registered” property agent.
They would then follow up by sending videos of the supposedly listed property and asking the victims for their personal information to prepare a “lease agreement”.
The “lease agreement” would then be sent to the victim for it to be signed, further adding to the “legitimacy” of the deal.
When asked if they could view the property, the scammers would tell the victims that the landlord of the property is unavailable.
Upon being satisfied with what the scammers have said to them, they would pay the scammers a certain amount of money for things such as rental deposits or stamp duty to “secure” the rental of a unit before they are allowed to “view” the property.
Police Advise People to Verify Legitimacy
With so many people being scammed via this outrageous method, the police have advised people to check the legitimacy of the property listing before carrying on with any sort of payment.
To check whether or not a property agent is legitimate, you can cross-check the agent’s phone number registered on the Council of Estate Agencies’ (CEA) public register.
If a search result returns negative, it is most likely that the property agent is a fake.
Another method to check for credibility would be by calling the property agency that the property agent works for and checking if they actually work there.
Avoid Getting Scammed
To avoid being scammed, never ever disclose your credit card number, personal information and passwords to anyone.
Furthermore, it is best to avoid calls that have the “+” prefix, even if the prefix is +65, as those are usually scam calls as well.
To report a scam, you can simply follow the instructions on the Police’s website.
You can also watch this video to know more about scams in Singapore:
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Featured Image: Police.gov.sg
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