Avoiding property scams

Someone copies photographs and text from a real listing — often a genuine property that is on the market elsewhere — and reposts it at a rent noticeably below the going rate. When you enquire they are warm, quick to reply, and very keen.

Then comes the reason they cannot meet you: they are working abroad, they are a missionary, they have relocated for a job, a family member is ill. They will courier the keys. But the place is in demand, so they need a deposit today to hold it for you.

There is one rule that defeats this entirely: never send money for a place you have not walked through, with a person who is standing there with you. No exceptions, no matter how good the reason sounds or how much you want the flat.

On a purchase, the money goes to the conveyancing attorney's trust account. Days before transfer, an email arrives that appears to come from the attorney: the banking details have changed, here are the new ones.

They have not changed. The mailbox was compromised, and that transfer is usually unrecoverable — this has cost South African buyers entire deposits.

Phone the attorney to confirm account details, every time, on a number you found yourself — from their website or the letterhead you already had, never a number in the email telling you about the change.

• Reverse image search the photos. If they appear on a listing in another city or under another name, walk away.
• Check the rent against the area. A Hout Bay two-bedroom at half the going rate is not a bargain, it is bait.
• Ask for ID and proof of ownership. A rates account or title deed in the same name as the ID. A real landlord will not take offence.
• Verify the agent's Fidelity Fund Certificate. Anyone marketing property on someone else's behalf for gain must hold a valid one from the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority. Ask for the number and check it with the Authority directly.
• Insist on a written lease or offer before money moves — and pay by EFT to an account in the name on the documents. Never cash, never gift vouchers, never crypto.

• We speak to every advertiser before a listing is published.
• Agency listings do not go up without a Fidelity Fund Certificate number we have checked is in date.
• We never publish a street address. A published address plus an absent owner is exactly what a listing hijacker needs.
• We never handle money. No deposits, no holding fees, no payments of any kind pass through this site — so there is nothing here for anyone to intercept.
• A reported listing comes down while we look into it. We would rather remove a genuine listing for a day than leave a fraudulent one up for an hour.

Report it to the South African Police Service and open a case — you will need the case number. Tell your bank immediately; if the transfer is very recent there is sometimes a narrow window to recall it. If an estate agent was involved, report them to the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority.

And tell us. If the listing came from this site we will take it down and pass what we have to the investigating officer.