Police are looking for the man shown in the picture to assist with investigations into a series of flat rental scams reported at Blk 123 Rivervale Drive.
Since November 2010, at least 3 cases of flat rental scams have been reported at Blk 123 Rivervale Drive. In all the cases, victims had responded to flat rental advertisements placed in the newspapers sometime in mid-October 2010. The suspect would arrange with victims to view the unit and collect money ranging between $2700 and $8000 from them as deposit and advance rental for the unit. After collecting the money, the suspect would then become evasive and remain uncontactable.
Police believe that this man in the picture may be able to assist in investigations. His name is Dennis Ang Beng Kiat and the description of the man is as follows:
-
Male Chinese in his 40s
-
About 1.7m tall
-
Short black hair
-
Slim build
Anyone with information on this man is requested to call the Police Hotline at 1800-2550000. All information will be kept strictly confidential.
Seek the services of a licensed estate agent or registered salespersons (also known as property agent). Before you engage their services, you should confirm their identities and the validity of their licences against the Public Register on Estate Agents and Salespersons in the website of Council for Estate Agencies at http://www.cea.gov.sg
Visit the housing unit which you intend to rent to confirm its existence, state of condition and signs of multiple subletting. You should obtain feedback on the housing unit from the neighbours, existing/past tenants, etc. You should also confirm the ownership of the housing unit through verifying against original documents.
Request the HDB flat owner to show you the original copy of the approval letter from HDB if you are renting the whole HDB flat
Verify the identities of the person whom you are dealing with and their relationship to the housing unit, especially when you are not engaging the services of a licensed estate agent or registered salespersons. You should confirm their identities against the originals and you should meet the house owner.
Do not make any advance payment until the tenancy is confirmed. For HDB flats, you should request the flat owner to register your particulars with HDB immediately via My HDBPage instead of the usual 7 days. To safeguard your interest, you should stamp your Tenancy Agreement with Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS). For more information on stamping, please visit the IRAS website at www.iras.gov.sg
As far as possible, do not make payments using huge sums of cash. You should try to pay the rental deposit and rents by cheque or bank transfer for documentary proof.
