{"id":597,"date":"2011-02-28T12:17:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-28T12:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2016-09-21T13:58:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T13:58:27","slug":"internet-fraudsters-target-tenants-with-new-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/internet-fraudsters-target-tenants-with-new-scam\/","title":{"rendered":"Internet Fraudsters Target Tenants with New Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-fraud.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-598\" title=\"internet fraud\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.legal4landlords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/internet-fraud-300x298.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Latest Landlord News by: Madalena Penny<\/p>\n<p>It was only a matter of time until Internet fraudsters jumped on tenant-demand to relieve the public from their money.\u00a0 In a new spate of specific online scams, fraudsters are cloning and establishing property and letting sites offering prime property to tenants then stealing deposits.<\/p>\n<p>The new scam, which targets the PRS has been coined as \u2018scraping\u2019 and is exploiting vulnerable tenants by persuading them to pay their deposits online to secure properties.\u00a0 In appearance, the sites seem legitimate and it is understandable that tenants can be taken in by the scammers.\u00a0 An example of a fraudulent site can be found at: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.intlett.co.uk\/mau.mhtml-count-num=107544.htm\">http:\/\/www.intlett.co.uk\/mau.mhtml-count-num=107544.htm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ian Potter, Operations Manager at ARLA (The Association of Residential Letting Agents) warned the public about the scam, stating:<br \/>\n&#8220;Tenants must double check the validity of the websites they are using by checking websites such as ARLA and then contact the agent on the details listed there if they have any doubts at all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, criminals who are operating from abroad can misappropriate company brands and industry logos to convince consumers that they are dealing with a legitimate lettings organisation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDue to the apparent quality of some of these fraudulent sites, tenants should also ensure that they use web portals such as www.propertylive.co.uk where they can be sure that all the properties are advertised through regulated agents.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Propertylive.co.uk is the only website which advertises property from more than 5,000 <a class=\"wp-caption\" title=\"Legal 4 Landlords Affiliates\" href=\"http:\/\/legal4landlords.com\/affiliates\" target=\"_blank\">accredited agents <\/a>across the UK.\u00a0 The fraudulent websites have been advertising on Gumtree and tenants are asked to exercise due diligence when securing properties online.\u00a0 Some of the sites are clones of reputable UK Letting Agent Sites and are identical in every way.<\/p>\n<p>ARLA have suggested some tips for tenants to protect themselves from the scam:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Get a friend, contact or relative to check the property exists and is available.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Do not pay monies if you or a reliable contact has not visited the property with an agent or the landlord.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Ask for copies of tenancy agreements and any safety certificates such as Gas Electricity or HMO Licence.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Do not be pressurised into transferring large sums of money. Transfer funds to a Bank Account having obtained the details by contacting the landlord or agent direct after the above steps have been followed.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Victims of any fraud must also inform the Trading Standards Board as well as the police, particularly in cases where money has been lost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Latest Landlord News by: Madalena Penny It was only a matter of time until Internet fraudsters jumped on tenant-demand to relieve the public from their money.\u00a0 In a new spate of specific online scams, fraudsters are cloning and establishing property and letting sites offering prime property to tenants then stealing deposits. The new scam, which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[79],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Internet Fraudsters Target Tenants with New Scam - Legal For Landlords<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fraudsters are cloning and establishing property &amp; letting sites offering prime property to tenants then stealing deposits.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dev.withcreative.co.uk\/lforl\/internet-fraudsters-target-tenants-with-new-scam\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Internet Fraudsters Target Tenants with New Scam - 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