Real estate agents have been prosecuted for fraudulently taking $2.6 million in rental bonds, strata fees, home sales and deposits, including one real estate agent who illegally took $789,000.

Fair Trading received 230 complaints regarding the failure to lodge residential bonds last year, and prosecuted five agents.

It is a scenario all too familiar to Rani Peluso, who was a victim of fraud three years ago, when her real estate agent pocketed a $2800 bond and up to six months in rent worth more than $7000.

"We found an apartment in Cremorne after a while, and my husband went and paid the agent the bond in cash," she said. "Some time went by, and the landlord came over to do some repairs and said he hadn't received any rent for six months or the bond."