Tips on avoiding Online Share Accommodation Scams

Learn how to avoid Online Share Accommodation Scams

first published on http://www.student-share-accommodation.com.au/Scam.aspx

Essential guidelines when looking for share accommodation to avoid being scammed:

• Payment by Money transfer: Money transfers can’t be traced (e.g. Western Union) and that’s why scammers use this method to receive payment. Be very cautious if a housesharer requests you use money transfer service. Be prepared to ask if they will accept an alternative payment means. Also never pass on a receipt for a money transfer even if the transaction was carried out with friends or family – receipts allow scammers to access the funds.
• Paying money upfront: Deposits are widely accepted standard in renting, paying money upfront to secure a room is certainly not! Arrange a viewing and see the house before you pay any money upfront.
• Always actually visit the house: The best way to ensure the house really exists is to visit the property and meet the person letting it out. Be suspicious whenever a person refuses to let you visit the house
• It looks too good to be true: Sounds too cheap? Looks absolutely fantastic like it’s a five star hotel? Steer clear of very cheap rents for the area or very professional looking photos.
• Landlord based abroad: Most scams come from abroad. So if someone tells you they are abroad on holiday or on a business trip be very suspicious, especially if they say you can’t see the room because they are out of the country.
• Pushiness: For example if the housesharer states you must pay by money transfer and nothing else be careful. Scammers must make you do things in a certain fashion if you’re uncertain be assertive and ask questions, remember you can say “no” and there are plenty of other rooms.

Learn more about Roy McDonald and real estate here

Real Estate Lead Generation SCAM Spot them the How To here.

Hi http://www.scam.com/ you have really written a bad article here, boo who? Timhead well that is his name on top of the article, http://srv349.rackco.com/showthread.php?p=798710.

Titled Real Estate Lead Generating Scams,

Free real estate posting sites, Its Free, FREE, FRE to post your Real Estate on our site.

QUOTE: This Back door marketing trap catches visitors by utilizing unsuspecting Realtor Companies Listings as the Bait to harvest leads.

Okay Timhead why is the sale of information such a big deal, you buy the new paper don’t you and they do a lot worse with peoples names then an agent calling a prospect back who wants to list their house. If you new anything about lead generation and the sale of leads it is governed quite strictly and no one interested in buying a lead that could be worth thousands would be harvesting mass generated low targeted leads.

A lead generation process happens on a very defined market niche where the prospect or the consumer is looking for very specific information, a lead generated from a random question is not only worthless but is considered spam and for you so called big business these leads are lucky to be worth cents per thousand.

If a real estate lead is generated in mortgage broking it will be a cost to a seller of that service from $40 to $130 per lead, do you think that someone is going to buy that if the consumer is going to say “how did you get my details” “I didn’t sign up for this” are you kidding or just living in the 90’s Timhead. Also a lead for an agent looking to sell / buy property can be worth up $5000 for a buyers agent and a percentage of the agents commission if someone is looking to sell. Please tell me what person would buy a real estate lead of that value, that would have a consumer not be happy to have this person contact them?

Check out the first comment:

This really doesn’t sound like a scam to me. If you sign-up for something you have to read the privacy policy or else your information probably will be used in ways you don’t know about.
It’s a common practice among all types of sites.

Haha nice one http://www.scam.com/ super article, maybe you just wrote some poor article because you thought you maybe able to generate some traffic on you site in that area then hoping they click on your masses of google ads, sounds like the article should be on click fraud because that is all you are enticing, article that make people want to leave your site by clicking on your ads.

Here are 30 reasons why people loose money in real estate

Neil Jenman Scam? Consumers Alert or Just MASSIVE EGO…

The consumer protector in real estate he says, protecting consumers from scams and fraud in real estate. He has left a trail of destruction all over the place and our friends in New Zealand don’t like him ether.

Don’t tread on his ego because he will go to work on you with his  SEO works online, first article from consumer warning talks about how he just set off to tarnish a person credibility online with his sites. Then property investing forum suggest that they will not advise anyone to consider information on his site and they just want to say away from him.

To quote http://trialbyinternet.blogspot.com

If you seek legal advice, the first step of course is to have a cease and desist letter sent which Jenman simply laughs at. In some cases, Jenman further ridicules his victim by boldly publishing his mocking remarks relating to their attempted defense. “If what I said is really untrue then sue me!” This bold response from Jenman gives the impression that he must be telling the truth about his victim, but actually like most intelligent and pre-meditated doers of evil, Jenman knows that the chances of a conviction are slim. Defamation is one of the most expensive and high risk areas of law to defend yourself against and if you lose you have to pay not only your own legal costs (which can vary between $100,000 and $300,000) but you have to repay around 65% of the other sides costs as well. Even if you do win, damages are hard to quantify and there is no guarantee that you will get them. On top of that, it can take 1 – 2 years to get a result. Is it any wonder that most people Jenman defames never go past their first letter of demand? They have little choice but to remain guilty – unable to prove innocence. They suffer in silence or they change their name. The simple fact is, Jenman can say what he likes and unless you have the cash, the time and the will, Jenman wins.

A comment on the article: September 3, 2008 2:09 AM Well written … and well researched. I have been on the receiving end of such bullying tactics of gutter journalists and self-promotion egomainiacs. People like Jenman and Current Affair journo’s like Ben Fordham are the scum of the earth and have no moral values beyond their own egos. They never do real research, they find a person that they think they can destory then create lie after lie to build their case, hidding behind the walls of solicitors and TV cameras. For all those people who have been attacked by these scum, stand tall in the truth, they will be brought to judgement eventually. “Greater is He who is in me (God) than he who is in the world (satan).”

The comments seem to go on and on he really dose not have any fans here..

Then jump on over to a PDF from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) They have an article here is the first little bit;

The real estate institute of New Zealand (REINNZ) today cautioned people not to accept at face value the extravagant assertions of self-styled consumer advocate Neil Jenman. Jenman, the controversial Australian auther and seminar promoter, who positions hinself as a consumer advocate is currently visiting New Zealand running seminars questioning the ethics of real estate Practitioners. The real purpose of his seminar is to enable him to build his business of “accredited” Jenman system real estate practices.

So here is a bit more on how he works the online world in his favor, a very small amount of his site;

JenmanFightsBack.com.au registration to “THE NEIL JENMAN GROUP PTY. LIMITED” then,

Jenman.com.au registration to “The Jenman Winners Circle Pty. Limited” also

RealEstate-Help.com.au registration to “THE NEIL JENMAN GROUP PTY. LIMITED” then

RealEstateMonitors.com.au registration to”The Neil Jenman Group Pty.”

they are all title in a way to build his authority in the search engines, you should go to,  JenmanFightsBack.com.au tag line ‘protecting the man who protects consumers’… has been build to protect is so called reputation?? Why whould a man that protect consumers need a site like that?? hmmm maybe to rank in areas that people slander his name, great key words their Mr. Jenman. His wife and daughter have put together this site it says;

Quote by Reiden Jenman,

To the cowards who make these claims and to one coward in particular (who places our home address on the Internet and puts my family’s safety at risk), I say this to you.

Really i’m confused about this so called consumer protector?? who’s family is at risk! sounds like he has over step and over stayed his welcome with the real estate industry. So how do you evaluate this kind of person when a normal search on a personal name, then scam or scams after it would bring up information about the person that they would not like others to see, his search just brings up every article on everyone else he has named and shamed…what do you think of that Reiden?? And then every other avenue has his sites like ‘RealEstateMonitors.com.au’ sites that are built to support his other article sites and written to deceive consumer by implying that his site is, ‘an association develop’ by the industry or the government. Here is a bit from the ‘about’ section on this site.

We monitor agents and salespeople, looking for those who provide the best service for consumers.

In conjunction with Neil Jenman, we also monitor property investment advisers. really is that right? that you monitor agents and salespeople? because it is owned by “The Neil Jenman Group Pty.” and they would recommend agents that only have completed his course or seminar (the Jenman System)  hmm the plot thickens Jenman. or maybe I’m wrong, maybe your motoring site that is owned by you is put there for another reason… what if you jump in the comment or courts and prove me wrong ops that is Jenmans line.

Well drop your thoughts and make your own judgement, i’m done with using his site for any research.

P>S also someone has taken this site down haha good one everthing is always online, so goto: http://web.archive.org then search http://www.jenman.org

more comments at: http://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/community/opinionated/15267

Being scammed out of your money in Real Estate

Most of the time we don’t even know that we are being scammed, so how to you spot scams, how do we avoid being scammed? If you really know you industry you may have an idea though if you think about it do really know your industry or do you just know your job? Below Roy McDonald has written 30 reasons Why people lose Money in Real Estate, if you are in the real estate industry then you may want to have a read to see; is it that you know your industry or do you just know your job and have you been scammed? Roy MacDoanld talks about not doing proper research in one of the reasons. This could be associated with being a scam as the real estate agent could be providing information to build the value in the property and that is how they could see it, though in the vendors eyes it could be that they have been lead on by the agent and scammed! Please have a read of the following document written by Roy and educate yourself on your industry and stop being a victim, falling into scams.

30 Reasons Why People Lose Money In Real Estate By Roy Mc Donald

View more presentations from Roy McDonald.

Spotting a Real Estate Scam

Real Estate is one of the most popular was to make money, the free seminars provided by a lot of publishes of books like; Roy McDonald, Bradley Sugars, Jamie McIntyre and so on…Are always so inviting, we fine the best way to approach these training programs and courses is to do your home work and look out for some of the warning signs. You can use this great resource we have found online at a government website.

Watch out for the Real Estate Scams

http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/tag/InvestmentSeminarsRealEstateScams

Having your plan or strategy will help you on your wealth creation path, then when you attend seminars you will be inline with your goals and be able to make a satisfactory decision. Don’t become the victim to a financial trap that will have you in to far over your head. As I recall one speaker Roy McDonald saying, If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. I thank Roy for that as it has helped me a lot. Also make sure everything is disclosed if there are financial planners present then make sure you know how they are getting paid. In the end it is your investment and you are the only one that can make the decision, if you have done your research on how to make money with real estate and you know a lot of the industry you will know what will fit and work for you, if you don’t then use some of the government websites out there to so you how to spot the scams and the then avoid them.