KUALA LUMPUR: A group of property agents are crying foul after their profiles were allegedly misused by imposters to carry out rental transactions for properties in the Klang Valley.
Beyond using the profile pictures of legitimate agents and their verification numbers on property sites, these scammers even collected rental deposits from unsuspecting victims.
“We learnt about this when our agency informed us some clients were following up on the status of a property rental supposedly carried out by us.
“However, we were not aware of these transactions.
“Only then did we realise that there were imposters creating identical accounts on the property site to dupe people,” said group spokesman Victor Lee during a press conference held by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department here on Tuesday (Oct 8).
Lee was speaking on behalf of several agents whose identities were misused to conduct such activities.
He further explained that checks on the property site would find two accounts of the same agent, with one being an imposter.
“The contact number on the imposters account also redirects to a private number with the profile picture there being the same as the legitimate agent.
“Listed property prices in their account are also lower than market rates to attract clients,” he said.
He said the imposters even went to the extent of conducting viewing sessions for the victims and issuing booking forms.
The booking forms are also identical to the official ones issued by their company.
“During the viewing however, the 'agent' will not show up. A so-called assistant however will carry out the viewing.
“We suspect they rented the property through online travel agents which allowed them to access the property,” he said.
Lee said the scammers will also collect a three-and-a-half month deposit up front, when the norm is that only one month’s advance rental is collected if the client agrees to the unit.
“The remainder is only usually paid when the unit is handed over,” he said.
He said the deposits were also banked-in to a number handed over by the “agent” and once the transaction was made, the scammer would immediately block the number of the client.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said the scams amounted to about RM6,000 per case with approximately 10 cases discovered so far.
“Most of the scam victims are local and foreign students,” he said.
Chong said they are also looking to hold dialogues with real estate associations to alert them on the matter.
“Innocent real estate agents are being targeted with scam victims coming after them,” he said.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department legal adviser James Ee said property sites should improve their procedures when it comes to agents wanting to upload property listings.
MCA Federal Territory Public Service and Complaint Bureau chief Kok Weng Fhai advised the public to verify legitimate agents prior to any dealings.
He said this can be done through checking the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers website at lppeh.gov.my.
“Here you can see the agents' identification numbers and registered contact numbers,” he said.
