Wagga residents warned of scam artists targeting locals seeking properties to rent

Throughout the pandemic, many people have turned to social media to find rentals in Wagga's notoriously tight property market.

However, scammers have seized upon this as an opportunity to gouge money from unsuspecting prospective renters.

This was the case for Wagga resident Loren Stevenson, one of the 11,000 members of the Facebook group 'House to Rent in Wagga Wagga'.

Ms Stevenson became suspicious of a Facebook user after they offered her a house, but refused to let her inspect the property and made unusual demands surrounding payment.

"I reverse image searched the photos she had sent me and they showed up on a website from the UK which confirmed my suspicions," she said.

"She blocked me after I told her she was scamming me."

Ms Stevenson took to the popular Facebook group to warn others of what had happened.

"I've heard of many people falling victim to this scam in particular and given the amount of houses to rent groups on Facebook, it's important to share," she said.

This is how homeowner Maxine Honeysett discovered her Wagga investment property, which is currently occupied by tenants, was being advertised to Ms Stevenson by a stranger.

"I have no idea who that [person] is, and I'm concerned, like, how do they know about that house?" she said.

"I've never advertised my house on social media or Facebook to say that I'm renting it privately and it's up for rent.

"It's very quite confronting, and it's very much a breach of privacy and confidentiality."

Ms Honeysett's greatest concern is for the safety of her tenants as she is worried people may turn up to the property to inspect it or move in, unaware of the situation.

"The person who's renting it at the moment got a bit anxious and messaged me straightaway because she doesn't want people turning up to the house unannounced."

Ms Stevenson described the incident as yet another obstacle in what is a challenging housing market.

"You finally think you've found somewhere but it turns out to be too good to be true and you have to start again," she said.

"It's been nearly two months of fruitless searching."

The administrator of the 'House to Rent in Wagga Wagga' Facebook group, Darryl Kelly, has operated the site for 11 years.

He suggested many locals may have turned to private rentals due to the ongoing housing crisis.

"A lot of [real estate companies] will rent a place for $300 a week and you've got 50 people lined up for it offering $350 a week or 'I'll give you six months rent in advance'," he said.

"Sometimes it's beneficial to go private, especially if you've got a bad rental history or you're not making an absolute fortune."

However, until the pandemic took hold in March of last year, he had never seen property scams like the kind now being reported.

"A lot of them will say, 'Look I'm down the coast and I can't sort of get back to Wagga, but if you send me the bond money and the two weeks in advance, I'll send you the keys,' or that sort of thing," he said.

He said there are some obvious red flags for prospective renters to look out for if they are in the market for a private rental.

"You don't pay your bond to the landlord, you pay it to the rental bond board," he said.

"I think 99 per cent of all real estates will tell you that you must get through a property and have a look at it before they'll take an application.

"These people saying you're going to have to sign for the place unseen, that's another red flag."

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