UCT graduate seeking accomodation ‘scammed’ out of R11,000 by ‘fake’ rental company

A 23-year-old University of Cape Town (UCT) graduate from Limpopo has alleged he is a victim of an online rental scam.

He said he lost R11,000 to what he believed is a fraudulent company advertising fake apartments on Gumtree.

Ricky Mkhonto said he was searching for affordable accommodation in Cape Town before studying for his honours degree at UCT in 2026 when he came across a company calling itself Parkson Realtors.

Mkhonto contacted them through Gumtree.

“I trusted them initially because they had been on Gumtree for a number of years. The pictures looked real, the details seemed legitimate and they were very professional in communication,” Mkhonto said.

He explained that after initiating contact via WhatsApp, the “scammers” sent him photos of a neat apartment along with what appeared to be an official lease application process.

0 of 4

“They asked for proof of income and my three-month bank statement for an affordability check. A day later, they told me my application was successful and that I should pay a R1,000 non-refundable admin fee and a R10,000 deposit,” he said.

Mkhonto said he made the transfer on October 4.

“Later that day, I started feeling uneasy. I checked Hello Peter and found three to five reviews warning people about Parkson Realtors. That’s when it hit me that I might have been scammed.”

Mkhonto said his desperation to find an affordable place to stay made him vulnerable to the scammers.

“They convinced me by saying once I paid, they would remove the listing to indicate the place was no longer available. I just wanted my own place,” he said.

After realising what had happened, Mkhonto reported the fraud to his bank, FNB, and opened a case with the police.

He also took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to warn others and share his story.

He was later contacted by another person allegedly scammed by the same people.

Though FNB and police have opened investigations, Mkhonto said he has not yet recovered his money.

He urged others looking for rental accommodation to take precautions before making payments or sharing personal information.

“People should verify real estate agents through the Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority (PPRA) website and only use trusted platforms like Property24,” he said.

“Never make any payment before seeing the actual place, no matter how convincing the advert or agent may sound.”

Mkhonto said he wants justice for himself and others who have been victims of the scheme.

“I want to warn the public, but I also want to see these scammers caught and face the consequences of their actions,” he said.

When TimesLIVE called the provided phone number, the person at the end of the line hung up after we introduced ourselves as a media platform.

Gumtree has since removed the listing.

TimesLIVE