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Fraudulent conduct on rental properties is on the rise and property managers are being urged to be vigilant, according to one property manager.
Principal of Raine&Horne Victoria Par Michelle Aslander said she prevented an attempted fraud last week when she received an email purporting to be from the owner of a rental property she managed.
“I received an email asking when the next inspection was because they wanted to do an inspection with a view to sell," she told Residential Property Manager.
“The email came from an email address that did not match the email address I have on file."
Ms Aslander said she contacted the owner via the email address she had on record to confirm the authenticity of the request.
“She came back to me and said 'It wasn’t me',” said Ms Aslander.
Ms Aslander has since reported the issue with the Major Fraud Squad of the Western Australia Police.
She said the case was interesting as it was not an overseas scammer but someone who was based locally in Western Australia.
Ms Aslander said the case highlighted the importance of having strict regulations in the management of properties.
“We have a really strict policy where all our owners must give a password if they want to change banking details, names or anything like that,” she said.
“We tell our clients we’re not being difficult; this is to protect them.”
According to Ms Aslander, she has never experienced an occurrence like this in 16 years and she believes scams are on the rise.
“We are certainly hearing more and more cases of incidences, and I think we’ve got to be more and more aware,” she said.
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