SINGAPORE: Despite viewing a prospective rental flat twice in person and verifying the identity of their real estate agent, a couple working in Singapore were shocked to discover that they had fallen into a rental scam after they paid a hefty $5,000 deposit to secure the flat.
Mr and Mrs Wang (transliterated from Mandarin), have been living and working in Singapore for about two years. They told Channel 8 news that Mrs Wang saw a Facebook advert for a three-room HDB flat for rent in the Toa Payoh area. Interested, she contacted the agent on WhatsApp – a man who claimed to be employed by real estate firm Propnex.
However, the man told couple that the unit had been rented, and introduced them to another HDB unit in Newton.
The couple visited the Newton flat twice, on the 20th and 22nd of October, but the agent did not accompany them. During the first viewing, the agent said that he was busy serving other customers and could not view the property with them; the second time, he used the excuse that he had family matters and was in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and could not accompany them to view the property.
Mr Wang told Channel 8 that during both viewings, he only came into contact with a person who claimed to be a “receptionist”, but he did not know the actual identity of the other person.
“He (the agent) sent us his business card, and we checked his license online. His name is registered with the Council of Real Estate Agents.”
The supposed agent then sent an electronic version of the lease to Mr Wang to sign and asked for two months’ rent as a deposit, which amounted to $5,000. Mr Wang then transferred the money to the other party through bank transfer, signing the lease on Monday (23 Oct).
The couple were excited to move in to their new rental home on 15 December. When Mr Wang later asked the agent about the stamp duty that is payable, the other party said that it would be dealt with closer to move-in.
Mr Wang said, “I remember that the stamp duty must be completed within 15 days of signing the contract, so I urged him the next day (24 Oct) and he promised to complete it next week.”
Concerned, Mr Wang sent another reminder to the supposed agent on Thursday (26 Oct) but the other person completely ghosted him.
Mr Wang then approached Propnex on Friday (27 Oct), where he realised that the person they were dealing with was a scammer. He said:
“Propnex said that there was indeed such a person in the company, but they denied that it was the same person who was looking at the house with us… They also suspected that the agent’s identity had been impersonated, and said they couldn’t control it. It might be a fraud, and they asked us to report it.”
Mr Wang has since lodged a police report but is deeply distressed as the $5,000 they lost is a significant chunk of his savings.
Last year, there were 729 scams involving people pretending to be real estate agents, involving a total amount of $3.2 million. In January this year alone, there were 149 cases involving more than $810,000. Police investigation into this latest case is ongoing.