Agents: be on the lookout for copycat criminals

Are criminals using your rental agency’s brand to dupe and scam tenants with fake rental listings?

Anton Jansen van Vuuren, COO of Harcourts South Africa, has warned rental agents about a surge in fake listings. According to van Vuuren, criminals often use social media platforms like Facebook Marketplace for these scams, as many such platforms do not verify listings.

Tenants looking for homes to rent have been warned against “too good to be true” rental prices, high-pressure demands for payment or upfront requests for personal information.

Scams on the rise?

Scammers posing as agents aren’t the only housing criminals to make the news recently. Earlier this year, agents and tenants were warned of scammers fraudulently offering subsidised housing opportunities.

Criminals are spotting an opportunity in taking advantage of people on low incomes who are being priced out of the legitimate residential rental market. According to data from the latest PayProp Rental Index, people earning between R10 000 and R20 000 have just 6.2% of their income left after rent and debt repayments – creating plenty of desperate demand for government-subsidised housing schemes and low-priced private rental homes.

What can agents do?

Through no fault of yours, your agency’s reputation will be at stake when criminals use your branding. Scanning social media and rental listing sites for home ads with your logo can help you spot the fakes and report them to platforms.

It may also be worth advising rental applicants on how to identify which listings are from real rental agencies. Letting them know the red flags to look out for (such as suspiciously low prices) can protect them from scammers and ensure that they find a real, high-quality rented home instead.