Henderson Property scam in South Africa

Be aware of a scam happening in South Africa by an agency going by the name of Henderson Property.

I was nearly caught out by the fraudsters when applying for an apartment.

I found a listing on Private Property, and proceeded to contact the agent managing the listing. The agent replied and sent the relevant application form. The application form looked professional at first glance and I proceeded to fill it out and get all the required documents in order. Before sending all the documents to the agent, I noticed a few red flags:

1. The agent's email address looked fishy. It had numbers in it ( the email address: hendersonproperty.1ptyltd@gmail.com) and was an ordinary Gmail account. (Normally agencies have their own email domain. i.e agents_name@seeff.com) 2. There was an application fee before I was even allowed to view the apartment. 3. I tried to go to the website URL provided by the agent in their email ( www.hendersonproperty.co.za) , and Google couldn't connect to the server/ return the website. Thinking the website was down or undergoing maintenance, I did a domain lookup (on https://who.is/) to find that there is in fact no website with that URL, and you can claim/register the domain for yourself. But, if you Google "Henderson Property" it shows an agency based in USA. 4. The name of the agent in the email, and the name of the person I spoke to on the phone were different. 5. I phoned the agent to arrange a viewing of the apartment before any documents were submitted, and he stated that I cannot view the apartment until my application has been sent, the application fees has been paid, and the application was successful, because the agent didn't want to waste time with people who aren't serious buyers/renters. I asked to speak to management and he want to supply me with only an email address and not a phone number. 6. I looked up on True Caller to see who the agent's number was registered to, and it was a different name/ person to the above names in point 4. 7. I tried to view the listing again on Private Property, and it has been taken down. 8. Upon looking at the application form again, I noticed that there was no reference number to the property I wanted to rent.

I was almost caught out and scammed of R7.5k, but lucky I noticed the irregularities and stopped the process in it's tracks.

Please be aware and check the fine details such as the application forms, the agent and agency you're wanting to buy/rent a listing from, make sure the agency you're going through is legit. It's the small things that one tends to overlook like that that can cause major stressors in your life.

Lesson learned for me, and I'm just trying to spread the word for others out here in South Africa who have come across listings by an "agency" called Henderson Property.