Airbnb rental fraud Melbourne: Sophie and her boyfriend signed the lease for their dream home after a private viewing. Days later, they realized they had been defrauded by an elaborate scam

Young Australians trying to secure rental properties have fallen prey to an elaborate scam, leaving them thousands of dollars out of pocket.

Sophie Gibbons, 24, joined popular Facebook property listings community Fairy Floss in the hope of leasing a rental property in Melbourne as she moved there from Townsville.

On August 24, Sophie saw a posting on the page for a ‘perfect’ one-bedroom apartment in Queens Road, Melbourne, and quickly contacted the person who posted the ad.

Sophie said the entry was ‘not suspicious at all’.

“He sounded quite sincere and he told me he was going to work in the mines,” Sophie said. 7NEWS.

The man, Andrew (not his real name), said he was not the landlord but wanted to move out and transfer his lease to someone else.

A date was arranged for Sophie’s partner to inspect the property, with the landlord meeting him there.

Stephen Irvine, 27, also saw the man’s post on Facebook and sent him a message expressing his interest.

Sophie’s partner and Stephen both inspected the property on August 27, about 30 minutes apart.

They both met a man with a different name than the one they initially contacted.

This man, Greg (not his real name), told Sophie’s partner that he was the landlord, but he told Stephen that he was Andrew’s boyfriend.

Stephen said he had been able to bond with Greg as he had also moved to Australia from Britain.

“He seemed about the same age as me and seemed like a normal guy, so I think we kind of bonded in that way,” Stephen told 7NEWS.

Sophie’s partner also reported that Greg seemed like a normal person and could not see any obvious ‘red flags’.

Both Sophie and Stephen expressed an interest in securing the unit and were given an email address to contact, believed to belong to the man on inspection.

Just days later, they were both notified that they were successful applicants and sent a lease for signature, after which they both paid $3,000 up front – a $1,500 security deposit and $1,500 for the first month’s rent.

But when they tried to collect the keys to the property, alarm bells went off.

Stephen arranged to meet Greg at the unit on September 4, but was never given details of what time he would meet.

Stephen emailed the man, who then immediately apologized, claiming he was involved in a family emergency.

Greg asked Stephen to go to the apartment another day to pick up the keys, but Stephen began to worry that something was “suspicious.”

‘I had contacted the bank and gone to the police and while I was reporting the fraud to the bank, Greg had sent me an email saying, ‘Yes, can you meet me today for the keys to the apartment ?’

However, as soon as Stephen tried to arrange a time, Greg stopped answering and never heard from him again.

Sophie’s partner had arranged to meet Greg at the apartment on September 6, but Greg never showed up.

Sophie tried to call the man, but the number was disconnected.

After realizing something was wrong, Sophie decided to look up the property on Google and quickly discovered that it was actually being used as an Airbnb.

Sophie saw that the apartment had only just been listed for rent online by a real estate company and when she called the real estate agent, she was told that she had fallen for a scam, which had also affected others.

“My partner called the property company and said, ‘We’ve only just put it on the market, it used to be an Airbnb and a lot of people have been calling about this property,’” Sophie said.

It’s understood the scammer booked the Airbnb for a month between August 7 and 31, during which they used it to stage fake rental inspections.

Stephen has reported the incident to the police and is working with the bank to get his money back.

Sophie also tried to get her money back, but was unsuccessful.

Victoria Police are aware of the scam involving the Queens Road property and say the unit has been used in a ‘series of rental frauds in Melbourne’.

They have issued a public appeal for any information and have released CCTV footage of a man they believe can assist the investigation.

Sophie and Stephen both said the man on the CCTV footage was Greg.

The man is believed to frequent the South Melbourne and St Kilda areas and is described as being in his 30s, 180cm tall, with short dark brown hair and a Liverpool accent.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.