Property & Settlement Scams: How to Avoid Them

Real estate scams in Australia are a serious and widespread threat to homebuyers, sellers, and renters. Recently, property settlement scams in the form of fraudulent emails have become a popular method for cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting victims out of their deposits or more. 

As technology evolves, cybercriminals are finding more sophisticated ways to deceive unsuspecting victims. The best way to combat real estate fraud is through vigilance and by knowing the telltale signs of such scams. 

What are the different types of real estate scams? 

Fraudsters have come up with novel ways to steal your hard-earned money. They can reach you through various methods, like phone calls and emails. By being aware of common scam methods, you’ll know what to avoid when someone tries these tactics on you. 

Property settlement scams 

Cybercriminals often assume the identity of a real estate agent or someone from a trusted organisation to gain your trust. They could do this by imitating your agent’s email address or even using AI to clone their voice to make you think you’re speaking with the legitimate agent. Some are even sending fraudulent mail by post instead of email. 

Once they make you believe you’re corresponding or speaking with the real deal, they’ll instruct you to send the funds for your home purchase to a fraudulent bank account. 

There are also times when you receive a legitimate email from your agent; however, the contents of the message have been tampered with. This happens when cybercriminals intercept authentic emails from an agent or other trusted parties and change small but important details like payment instructions or banking information. 

Rental payment scams 

This type of fraud works similarly to property settlement scams, wherein a scammer assumes someone else’s identity to trick their victim into sending money. In the case of rental payment scams, they pretend to be the landlord or property manager and scam people out of their rent money. Or they try to redirect rental payments into fraudulent bank accounts. 

Fake listing scam 

In a fake listing scam, cybercriminals use legitimate listing information to create fake private listings and lure people in with rock-bottom rent or sale prices and agree not to do any background checks. They will pose as the seller, agent or landlord and provide excuses as to why the buyer or renter can’t see the property in person. Often, they’ll tell the buyer or renter that the offer is for a limited time only, and if they don’t act quickly, they won’t get the property when, in reality, there wasn’t a property to begin with. 

How to keep yourself safe from property scams 

Prevention is better than cure—this is true for scams as well. Here are a few ways to protect yourself from common property scams: 

• Review the sender’s email or address carefully. If you receive a correspondence that’s different from your agent’s typical email or address, it’s best to be cautious. You should also be careful of unsolicited messages, especially if they have payment instructions. 
• Be wary of sudden bank information changes. Contact your agent on the phone or meet with them in person to confirm the new banking details or if there was any change in the first place. 
• Don’t fall for urgency. If someone is demanding urgent payment for your deposit or rent, or else you may lose the property, be wary because it might be a scam. Pressuring people into making payments is one of the common tactics used by cybercriminals. 
• Always pay attention to Confirmation of Payee warnings. These warnings alert you to any anomalies concerning the payment, which includes information encoded by the payer not match the information held by their bank. 

What do you do if you’ve been scammed? 

If you’ve been scammed during a settlement or any property-related fraud, contact your bank immediately to reverse the transaction or stop any transactions from going through. After securing your bank account, you should report the situation to consumer protection agencies and authorities such as the Australian Cyber Security Centre.