Fake Camps Bay villa listing dupes holidaymakers and estate agents
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A Cape Town villa has been used in an alleged scam in which holidaymakers paid for accommodation they never received and estate agents were shown altered ownership documents to win a sole marketing mandate.
Holidaymakers have allegedly paid for accommodation they never received after a fake online listing used photographs of Lion's View, a villa in Camps Bay, while estate agents were approached with allegedly altered ownership documents in an apparent attempt to market the property.
Elize Sewell, owner of Camps Bay Apartments, which manages the villa, said the repeated visits by agents were disturbing guests. "Our guests should be relaxing, not opening the gate to strangers," she said. According to the property's management, the scheme began when people posing as wealthy buyers viewed the villa with an estate agent and claimed to own a mine in the Congo; the agent subsequently shared the owner's private documents, including a municipal account.
Management said the documents — a rates bill and a company registration certificate — were then altered to display the scammers' own company name and presented to estate agents as proof of ownership. One of those involved allegedly claimed to be an advocate. Agents were offered a sole mandate to market the property, and once an agent expressed interest the supposed owner would request petrol money for a brother allegedly stranded in Mpumalanga.
The scale of the disruption was evident on the Thursday before management issued its statement on 24 October: within one hour, two agents arrived at the villa and at least five others phoned, according to management. The alleged scheme extended to online bookings, with a property listed on Booking.com under the name "Mountain View Escape" using photographs of Lion's View that had been shared by the estate agent.
Management said at least two groups of holidaymakers, one from South Africa and another from Denmark, paid for accommodation advertised using the villa's photographs, were directed to a different address and later posted reviews describing the listing as fraudulent. The listing was still on Booking.com when the statement was issued.
The matter has been reported to the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority. Lion's View's management urged estate agents to verify ownership before agreeing to market a property or sharing sensitive documents, to check the owning company's name against Deeds Office records and never to pay money to a purported seller, and advised guests to book through the property's own website or to keep payments on the booking platform where they use one.