The scammers book short-stay apartments then advertise them for rent, impersonate real estate agents to would-be tenants offering bogus leases. They then disappear once they secure a bond payment and rent in advance. A Chinese-owned apartment on the 32nd floor of the prized EQ Tower was also involved in the scam. "You have people, you have 'real estate agents' meeting you in person, showing you the property," said one victim who lost $13,250 in November. The pair are two of eight victims, most unwilling to be named for this article, who claim they have lost more than $79,000 in just one month. They believe there could also be a related scam running in Sydney. Following the trail of who is responsible for the fake listings - usually on social media - and subsequent rental demands is complicated involving stolen ABN numbers, fake businesses and frontmen who meet would-be tenants at the properties.

A New Zealand man was listed as the landlord on the falsified tenancy agreement forms. A photograph of his NSW driver's licence was presented to victims who asked for the landlord's identification. Fairy Floss Real Estate's Facebook posts. When contacted this week, the man denied any involvement in the rental scam and asked for documents so that he could go to the police himself. The man and his partner moved to Australia from New Zealand in May, leaving behind a folded drink business with debts to be paid off by the woman's pensioner mother. “She’s definitely a piece of work,” said the woman's brother.

The woman has a fraud conviction in New Zealand. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have chosen not to name the pair for legal reasons. How the apartments were advertised. The sting Ms Azzumi's trouble started when she called to arrange an inspection of the Rose Lane property. The next day, November 1, she said she met 21-year-old Thomus Bailey who claimed to be the real estate agent outside the property. "Tom is a person that has either been brainwashed or he doesn’t have a conscience. You would never pick that he was a criminal if you met him," one victim who lost $13,160 said.

Ms Azzumi immediately knew the Rose Lane apartment was a place she wanted to live, so filled in government-branded residential tenancy forms and hoped for the best. Tom Bailey's post advertising his services “I text him saying I really want to live there. I want you to give me the chance to live there. He said you need to wait, I need to do another inspection. Maybe I find another person,” said Ms Azzumi. Three days later, a man who identified himself the landlord called Ms Azzumi asking her to pay six months' rent in advance. “He said, if you can, I will give you this apartment.”

Eager to move into the property, Ms Azzumi transferred $11,000 to a bank account under the name “auslandscaping” and was told she would move into the apartment on November 25. The scheduled date was pushed back after the phoney landlord said they needed to complete maintenance on the apartment. Other victims of the scam were told asbestos had been found in the building. He said, if you can, I will give you this apartment. Geyatri Azzumi All were promised a refund for the delayed move-in date. The day before Ms Azzumi was rescheduled to move into the Rose Lane apartment, December 2, she called to arrange a place to pick up the keys. That was the last she heard.

The scammers used short-stay properties they had rented from Iron Fish, a Chinese-focused property agency which denies any knowledge of what was being done at their properties. “We have provided all the information to police and are trying our best to prevent any incident happening at our properties,” said Coral Xiao who manages the short-stay bookings at Iron Fish. The apartments were then advertised across several platforms including Facebook’s "Fairyfloss" rental group, Gumtree and Flatemates.com.au, before arranging house inspections "In the two years that I’ve been associated with the group, I’ve not been aware of any scams like this", said Justin Butterworth, administrator of Facebook's Fairyfloss group. Construction company owner Brenton Wilder's identity has been frauded and he is now caught up in a rental/landscaping scam. Credit:Simon Schluter.

"It’s a real person with a real website who has met consumers in person and unfortunately committed a fraud, a scam." The rental forms filled in by the hopeful tenants reveal the scammers were using an ABN attached to Auslandscaping, a construction company that has been owned by Brenton Wilder since 2012. But that company and Mr Wilder were not involved in the alleged scam. “I’ve contacted ASIC ... essentially I’ve got to close the whole company down. Look at the possibility of starting an entirely new company,” he said. “It’s paperwork and a bit of money involved for me, I feel more sorry for the other guys.” Mr Wilder was first contacted by victims of the scam in early November. A fake website that takes his company name has contact details that show a disconnected number and a street address in Mentone.

In search of the stolen money, Ms Azzumi went to the address listed on the website only to find 82-year-old Rae Fordham. Ms Fordham said she had several victims visit her searching for their money. “A lovely lass came, a student, she said she’d paid them $11,000 for rent on bond. Then on Tuesday, I had two other lasses come.” Mrs Fordham now fears for her safety.

“I now keep all the doors locked, I keep a padlock on the front gate. I shouldn’t have to live like this,” she said. Mr Bailey, who later changed his name to Sam Broadleaf on Facebook, was arrested in Sydney and charged with obtaining financial advantage by deception and will appear before Melbourne Magistrate's Court in April. Another victim who lost $13,600 to the scam has turned his attention to the banks. “How is it that they’re opening up all these accounts and the people behind the counters are not working it out? Even when they are finding out there is suspicious activity, they are not closing the accounts,” the man said, who requested anonymity. “This is not just a matter of someone deceiving you on the street, this is another level. These people don’t have respect for authority or anything.”