Scammers target real estate and settlement accounts

Western Australia’s real estate and property settlement industries have been warned to remain vigilant as scammers increase efforts to steal large amounts of money through property transactions.

WA Consumer Protection said scammers successfully nabbed $329,500 from a real estate agency trust account just last week.

“The victim received a phone call from scammers posing as their bank and was asked to verify some recent transactions on the account.

“The scammers then requested remote access to the computer via a software the victim was asked to download and then handed a remote access code over to the scammers.

“The scammers were able to conduct a range of transactions from various trust accounts while on the phone to the victim via remote access before the real bank called to alert the victim to possible fraudulent activity.”

The alert was issued on the heels of more than $64,000 in funds being stolen from another WA real estate agency and two settlement agents last month.

Consumer Protection said it was working with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, the Real Estate Institute of WA and the Australian Institute of Conveyancers WA to address the issue of scammers specifically targeting agents.

“Never assume that a call from your bank, is actually your bank – hang up and call them back on a legitimate number from their website or a bank statement,” Commissioner for Consumer Protection Trish Blake said.

“What’s concerning about these latest scams, is that the scammers know the last few transactions on the accounts which makes them sound very convincing – don’t fall victim to this elaborate and sophisticated scam.

“Your bank will never ask you to give out passcodes or request remote access your computer, so please do not hand this information over to someone you don’t know over the phone.”

Ms Blake urged all agents to be “exceptionally wary” of any calls of that nature.

“If you have been approached and managed to avoid being scammed, please let Consumer Protection know so we can investigate and alert other agents,” she said.

Consumer Protection said the best course of action for those who think they may have lost money in a scam is to immediately contact their back.

“See if the payment can be retrieved, and report it to Consumer Protection’s WA ScamNet team by calling 1300 30 40 54 or complete a scam report on the website.”