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Source: ONE News -
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Internet scammers pull almost $500 million a year from New
Zealanders pockets.
One Hamilton student on the move to Invercargill found that out the
hard way after being caught up in a rental property internet
scam.
Emma Morrow, a first-year student away from home, lost a month's rent on the scam.
She logged onto Virtual Realty, put up an advert looking for a flat and waited.
An individual called Brian Ward replied to her ad, asking her how much she could afford.
Replying from the UK, he offered her a place he said he owned. She seemed to like the place and sent the money.
But he's since taken her money, vanished and the property Morrow's saw in photos, does not exist.
The actual owners of the property had no idea it was even on the rental market.
The sign outside says that it's for sale and ONE News has discovered that Morrow's is not the only person caught up in this scam.
Richard Parlett from scamwatch.govt.nz estimates around $487 million goes to scammers in New Zealand every year.
"In relation to these type of flatmate or property rental scams, we're seeing about 10 reports a month," says Parlett.
ONE News tried to contact Ward, but not surprisingly his phone was out of service.
"With students heading back to university now, scammers are obviously looking at them as a target group," says Parlett.
The website that Morrow visited now has alerts, but scamwatch says the onus is really on the site users.
"Don't rent a property unless you've viewed it, secondly never send money overseas unless you completely know and trust that person," says Parlett.
It is a tough lesson for Morrow, but she has since found a real flat and is getting on with her studies.
