Fake agent, forged letter: Man loses $6,700 in Toa Payoh rental rip-off, Singapore News & More Trending News
The doc appeared fairly legit, from the brand of the property company to the true property agent’s license quantity.
Which is why house seeker Felix Lim stated he did not suspect something was amiss when he put down some $6,700 of his hard-earned cash to safe a HDB unit at Toa Payoh.
Only to understand later that he had been the sufferer of a rip-off.
In a now-deleted TikTook video on Dec 30, the 28-year-old freelancer shared that he and two pals have been looking for a unit to hire collectively.
After attempting to find only a month, they lastly discovered a Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) unit at Toa Payoh and contacted the alleged agent who had listed the unit on the market final month, Felix instructed AsiaOne.
To bait Lim into making cost quick, the person allegedly instructed him that the unit was excessive in demand and that if he needed to “cut the queue”, he must signal a Letter of Intent (LOI), together with a month’s rental and a deposit.
An LOI is a preliminary settlement by a tenant to lease a landlord’s property, in addition to the latter’s acknowledgment.
“It had chops and everything,” Lim stated, including that the doc seemed authentic.
To be secure, he stated he did his due diligence and seemed up the agent, firm and license earlier than continuing with the deal.
“I did my background checks and everything. I asked my friends who worked in the same company and they said this was a [legitimate] agent,” Lim elaborated.
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But it was all too good to be true as a result of on the supposed viewing day, the “agent” allegedly did not flip up and stopped replying to his messages.
“The scammers have really elaborate tactics nowadays,” Lim stated, including that he later discovered that the scammer had gotten maintain of an precise property agent’s signature, license quantity and a landlord’s identification certificates.
“They were just impersonating other people.”
Police report lodged
After the scammer disappeared, Lim did some digging and stated that he discovered the precise agent’s quantity who then instructed him that there have been scammers who’ve been impersonating him.
Lim stated he has since lodged a police report and contacted the financial institution concerned. He additionally stated that part of the cash he misplaced was borrowed from different pals.
He has additionally arrange a fundraising marketing campaign on-line to “get back on his feet”, elevating some $1,100 to this point.
Last 12 months, in one other rental rip-off, one sufferer stated he had been seeking to improve from a studio condominium to a two-bedder.
After recognizing a list on Facebook, he contacted the itemizing agent and was later instructed to switch two months’ hire to the owner for a two-year lease. He was additionally requested to organize an LOI.
However, after sending his cash over, the scammer ghosted him.
After searching for some assist from a buddy’s agent, he discovered that the itemizing was pretend.
ALSO READ: Tenant complains about ridiculous calls for from landlords
No a part of this story or photographs may be reproduced with out permission from AsiaOne.
Fake agent, forged letter: Man loses $6,700 in Toa Payoh rental rip-off, Singapore News
Fake agent, forged letter: Man loses $6,700 in Toa Payoh rental rip-off, Singapore News
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Fake agent, forged letter: Man loses $6,700 in Toa Payoh rental rip-off, Singapore News