A new online scam targeting property owners has been exposed, according to WA Scam Net. Property owners using well-known classifieds sites to publish the confidential sale of their properties are being warned of the scam, calculated to defraud owners of cash. According to WA Scam Net said this scam was previously limited to smaller goods like computers, though the latest concern was the real estate market.
Anne Driscoll, Commissioner for Consumer protection said the bogus purchaser has been impending sellers of a property and effective them they wish to purchase the property from out of the country.”The scammer needs the seller to pay a fee on their behalf, apparently to ease the sale in some way,” she said.”The scammer will ask for the cash to be transferred by wire knowing that this method is almost undetectable. (wccannabis)
“Otherwise the scammer may propose payment via a secure payment system, but provides electronic links which take the vendor to a fake version of a legal payment system site.”While no cash has been lost to the scam as yet, a number of citizens have been approached by scammers posturing as prospective buyers and requesting economic assistance .Unlike modern real estate scams where home possession was jeopardized, this latest scam is basically defrauding people of cash.