Australia has opened its border for more than a month. With the resumption of offline courses, many foreign students have successively returned to Australia to complete their studies. But here, some overseas students have encountered trouble - rental scam. On the social media platform, posts about "Australian rental scam" are not uncommon, and the fraud routines are also roughly similar. Criminals first release the rental information on the rental software. The houses are usually located in the city center, but the rent is far lower than the market price. The interior decoration is fashionable and livable. They lure foreign students to consult through the houses with "high quality and low price". After that, the "landlord" will be very enthusiastic and reply to all information in time, but will be unable to lead the students to see the house on the spot on the grounds that "he is not here". Usually, the students will be required to pay (or pay a deposit) first, and then mail the house key. The scam is not complicated. Criminals take advantage of the psychology of foreign students eager to find a house and the loophole of lack of rental experience to commit fraud. Nancy (a pseudonym), a sophomore Chinese student from Monash University, was almost recruited not long ago. Previously, she took online classes in China for a whole year. After receiving the application for the return plan from Monash University at the end of last year, she arrived in Melbourne in mid February this year. Although she is a sophomore, this is her first time to Australia. When looking for a house on a local app, she encountered a similar scam. "The landlord asked me to transfer the money first and then send me the key. The deposit was $1000. At that time, I liked the house very much and almost transferred it. The reason why I didn't transfer the money was that there was not enough money in my card that day." After thinking calmly, Nancy murmured in her heart. "The other party said he couldn't see the house first, only the photos. I felt something was wrong and proposed to see the real estate certificate. Then the 'landlord' didn't reply." Looking back at the whole process, she was glad that she had "not enough money" that day. "Otherwise, I would transfer the money directly. The house really looks clean and warm, and the price is appropriate. It is a good choice for foreign students." It's important to see the house on the spot Nancy finally saw through the scam, but some foreign students were not so lucky. Some students leave messages on social media about their or their classmates' experience of rental fraud, ranging from hundreds to thousands of Australian dollars. And the vast majority of students choose to "admit their mistakes" after being cheated. "It's too small to get the money back after all." A Chinese student left a message on the study abroad forum. "The most cheated overseas students are probably renting houses." Tan Rui (a pseudonym), who studies at the University of Leeds in the UK, said with a wry smile, "some foreign students are not familiar with the world and do not know the local situation when they first arrive, they may be deceived." Zhou Kehui is a senior real estate agent in riverside, USA. In response to the cheating of Chinese students in renting a house in the United States, Zhou Kehui believes that students hope to find a house with cheaper rent, but they are in a hurry to rent a house and have to make a decision even before they see the house on the spot, which is easy to be cheated. "Criminals do not have the key to rent a house. Generally, as long as they propose to go to the scene to check the rented house, swindlers often use excuses to avoid it." Zhou Kehui said. "Take the UK as an example. Under normal circumstances, every university has its own rental agency, which can provide relevant services. For international students, they must not give money prematurely, nor provide relevant information such as passports and student signatures to the landlord prematurely." Tan Rui suggested that international students should try to live in the student apartments that the school can provide, or look for houses on the local formal rental website and seek professional and formal rental intermediary services. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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