The victims typically responded to property rental listings online, mostly on Facebook but also on Carousell and rental advertisement sites.
They would generally interact with the scammers through WhatsApp using the contact numbers published in the property rental listing.
During their exchange, the scammers would impersonate a legitimate property agent and convince the victims of their credentials by sending pictures of property agent passes, business cards, pictures and videos or virtual tours of the rental property.
However, the contact numbers provided would differ from the actual contact numbers of the legitimate property agent registered with the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).
When the victims asked if they could view the property, the scammers would claim that there was high demand for the property and pressure them into making deposits to secure the property.
The victims would discover that they had been scammed when the fake agents ceased contact with them or when they reached out to the legit agents who were impersonated by the scammers.
In some cases, the victims were asked to meet up with the “personal assistants” of the fake property agents who would help facilitate their viewing of the property.
After the viewing, the victims would be told to provide their personal particulars for the tenancy agreement and to make payments for the rentals through bank transfers or PayNow.
But the scammer or “personal assistants” would cease contact with the victims after receiving payments. At least 144 people lost $917,000 to this method of scamming between July 2023 and January 2024.
The police advise verifying the legitimacy of a property listing by the following means:
- Do not rely on Facebook or Carousell listings or the assurances of the scammer over WhatsApp. Potential renters should verify the identity of the property agents renting out the properties against the CEA Public Register before dealing with them. Check whether the phone number in the property listing belongs to a property agent registered with CEA. To do so, you should key in the advertised phone number on the CEA Public Register at www.cea.gov.sg/aceas/public-register to perform a search. If the search does not lead to a CEA-registered property agent’s profile page, it means that the phone number is not registered with CEA and is likely a scam, even if the property agent’s name and registration number can be found in the CEA Public Register. Contact the property agent only at the phone number registered with CEA.
- Contact the property agent’s agency from trusted sources (such as the CEA Public Register or the agency’s website and not the number given by the Facebook or Carousell advertisement) to verify the authenticity of the listing.
- Potential renters should view the properties in person and check that they are dealing with the actual CEA-registered property agent (not their unqualified assistant) in order to safeguard themselves. Tenants and occupiers should know that under the CEA practice guidelines, property agents are supposed to meet you face-to-face to verify your identity for all residential rental transactions.
- Property agents are not permitted to demand and collect payments to view or rent properties. Payment of rental deposits or rent should be made directly to the landlord using verifiable payment modes such as crossed cheques and bank transfers and must be paid to the landlord’s bank accounts, not the “personal assistants” bank account or unverified PayNow numbers.
An incident involving a Malaysian woman and a property agent has sparked outrage and condemnation online. The woman took to social media last week (10 Jan) to share her experience of a racial remark made by the now ex-agent while house hunting.
The woman, Kalvin, revealed that the real estate agent she contacted, identified as Alan Chia, initially responded positively to her inquiry.
However, the situation took a turn when she disclosed her name and ethnicity, leading the agent to explicitly express a refusal to deal with Indian and Punjabi individuals.
I don’t normally do this but this is completely UNACCEPTABLE. Contacted a property agent, his response was fine initially, but immediately after obtaining my name and race, he was rude. When I questioned him, see what he says.
He blocked me right after. pic.twitter.com/UAhNUdFnih
— Kalvin (@kalvinderks_) January 10, 2024
“This is truly unacceptable. Today it’s against Indians and Punjabis. Tomorrow it’ll be against Malays,” Kalvin expressed in her viral tweet on X.
The post gained widespread attention, prompting the real estate agent’s company, IQI Global, to conduct an investigation.
Agent terminated from employment, releases apology video
In a statement responding to the incident, the company revealed that the agent had been terminated from employment based on both the investigation’s findings and the agent’s admission to the remarks.
After investigation and given Alan Chia’s admission of the facts of the issue, we have terminated Alan Chia with immediate effect and he no longer acts as an agent of IQI.
We have a very diverse group of staff and agents from different countries including Malaysia, Philippines,… https://t.co/Hnz0tE82RS
— IQI Global (@IQIGlobal) January 10, 2024
“We are strongly opposed to any form of discrimination and do and will continue to respond to it strongly,” the company asserted in their official response.
Following his termination, the former agent, identified as Alan Chia, took to social media platform X to issue a public apology.
In the message, Chia extended his apologies to the Malaysian community, specifically to the Indians, Punjabis and Kalvin. He expressed regret and acknowledged the gravity of his actions.
“For all Malaysians, especially Indian friends, Punjabi friends, and Ms. Kalvin, please accept my apology. I will take responsibility for what I did today. I deeply regret my actions and am currently feeling stressed. I sincerely apologise,” he wrote in his apology.
For all the malaysian especially indian friend, punjabi friend and Ms Kalvin. Please accept my apologise and i will be responsible on what i have did today. I’m very regret and feeling stress now. Sincerely apologise from me Alan Chia pic.twitter.com/2D9jMJZyP1
— Alanchia (@alanchia1993) January 10, 2024
Kalvin’s response to the apology
In response to the apology, Kalvin told Yahoo Southeast Asia that she was glad he apologised.
“Glad he did apologise. I didn’t intend to defame him as I understand he has his whole life ahead to earn a living. But I wanted to convey a strict message that racial remarks are not acceptable and never will be acceptable.”
She felt that property agents should not have preferences when conducting business, and that their role is to cater to the seller/owner’s requests transparently without bringing personal biases into the equation.
Kalvin concluded by encouraging others who face racial discrimination from property agents to lodge complaints with the Board of Valuers, Appraisers, Estate Agents and Property Managers (BOVAEP).
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