Vigilant RESs Prevented Their Clients’ Properties from Being Used for Rental Scams

(From left) Ms Amanda Ang from PropNex and Mr Keith Tan from ERA (both holding their Letters of Appreciation) in a group photo with senior representatives from CEA, SPF, ERA and PropNex.

Rental scams continued to be a scourge in 2024, with at least $2.7 million lost to conmen who posed as real estate salespersons (RESs) and posted fake rental listings online.

From January to October 2024, there were over 430 of such cases reported, involving scammers impersonating RESs

A typical modus operandi: The scammers would rent a unit and pretend to be an RES when they put up fake or unauthorised listings of rental properties. In some cases, the scammers would even conduct viewings of a property that they have rented, using the services of a ‘personal assistant’ to escort the prospective tenants.

Their end goal is to trick potential tenants into paying fees upfront, such as a fee to view the property, or a security deposit for rental, before absconding with the money.

Everyone plays a part in detecting and preventing rental scams.

Two vigilant RESs were recognised by the Singapore Police Force (SPF) for going above and beyond their duty to prevent rental scams.

The prompt and proactive actions taken by the two RESs demonstrate the important role that RESs can play:

• Amanda Ang from PropNex Realty Pte Ltd prevented a tenant from falling prey to a rental scam because she followed up on a suspicious advertisement on her client’s property and reported it to the police.

• Keith Tan from ERA Realty Network Pte Ltd actively tackled unauthorised rental listings for his client’s property, thus preventing the property being used for more rental scams.

Both Amanda and Keith were presented with Letters of Appreciation by SPF, in a special ceremony held at CEA’s office last October.

Amanda and Keith shared their stories with CEAnergy. 

Amanda Ang, PropNex

Amanda (right) receiving her Letter of Appreciation from Superintendent Su Jie Hui.

Amanda, who has been in the industry for four years, had listed a client’s condominium unit for both sale and rental.

After finding a rental tenant, she deleted the rental listing for that unit but left the sale listing online. Little did she know that the ‘tenant’ was a scammer who would use the unit for nefarious purposes.

The scammer simply posted fake rental listings – based on Amanda’s listing right down to the photos -- on platforms such as Facebook and Carousell, and introduced her client’s unit via WhatsApp messaging whenever potential tenants enquired.

Amanda felt that something was amiss when she received a call asking if the unit, which was advertised for sale, was also available for rent.

“They told me that they recently viewed the same unit, with the exact furniture, as the one shown in my listing which I had already taken down. I found out that some of them even viewed the unit in person after I had handed over the unit to the tenant.”

She quickly gathered screenshots of the suspicious listings as evidence, and on her own initiative, interviewed the callers who told her they had viewed the unit.

“I also warned them not to transfer any money to the scammer who was impersonating an agent.”

Next, she went with her client to make a police report and consulted Mr Lee Heng Eam, PropNex’s Assistant Director, Legal and Compliance for advice on the next steps and the relevant contacts.

Subsequently, the SPF’s Anti-Scam Command contacted Amanda and she provided all the relevant evidence that she had collected.

Amanda advised her landlord to quickly contact the condominium’s management office to terminate the access card held by the ‘tenant’, and requested the management office to alert her if any suspicious person tried to access the unit.

While there were some early victims who fell for this scam, Amanda’s proactive approach saved more prospective tenants from losing their money.

She said: “I did my best to help everyone. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, there were a few prospective tenants who lost their money because of this rental scam. My heart goes out to them.”

Keith Tan, ERA

Keith (right) receiving his Letter of Appreciation from Superintendent Su Jie Hui.

It was a coincidence that set off Keith’s alarm bells.

The veteran RES of 15 years said: “We were alerted by my client’s friend, who was looking for a rental unit. She saw a listing on Facebook Marketplace, and had contacted the person who listed the property for more information. The person then forwarded her the details of an available condominium unit. It just happens to be my client’s unit!”

Spoiler alert: That unit had already been rented out by Keith’s client to someone who turned out to be a scammer, and was using the unit to lure unsuspecting victims.

Keith says that both he and his client did not initially realise that the unit was been used as a lure in a rental scam.

But he jumped into action once they suspected that his client’s apartment was being used for illegal activities, by making a police report. Keith then alerted the condominium management about his suspicion, and asked them to contact him if they detected any visitors to the unit.

He also went down several times to the condominium to attempt to intercept the scammer, and even tried to contacting the scammer online. He eventually met and confronted the ‘personal assistant’, who had been hired by the scammer to conduct viewings for potential victims looking to rent the unit.

Through his efforts, he succeeded in retrieving the apartment keys without incident.

Keith said his sense of duty overcame his worry about confronting the scammer. “My client had entrusted me to handle the property for them. I felt it was my responsibility as a property agent to do all that I could to help them get back their apartment from the scammer and minimise any potential loss or damage.”

He is keen to continue doing his part to prevent more people from being harmed by rental scams.

“I sympathise with all the victims of rental scams who lost their hard-earned money. I am glad that I was able to share what I knew with the police on this case, and we managed to stop more people from becoming victims.”

For more information on rental scams:

• Consumers can visit CEA’s rental scams page

• RESs can refer to Industry Notice 02-24 on ACEAS

• CEAnergy article (February 2024): How to avoid falling for rental scams

• CEAnergy article (December 2024): KEO issued Letter of Censure and fined $5000 for failing to do due diligence checks