Rental Scams on Flatmates.com.au
Flatmates.com.au is Australia's largest share accommodation platform, helping people find flatmates, rooms, and shared housing. Owned by REA Group (same parent as realestate.com.au), the platform is popular with students, young professionals, and anyone seeking affordable shared housing. The room-rental model makes verification harder than traditional property listings.
Common Scam Types on Flatmates.com.au
Advance Deposit Scams
Scammers list attractive rooms at below-market prices and pressure interested renters to pay a deposit via bank transfer before viewing. They may claim the room is extremely popular and other applicants are already lined up.
Fake Flatmate Profiles
Scammers create detailed profiles with stolen photos and fabricated personal details to appear as friendly, trustworthy flatmates. They advertise rooms in popular suburbs and collect deposits from victims who never get to move in.
Off-Platform Payment Scams
Scammers quickly move the conversation off Flatmates.com.au to email, WhatsApp, or text message. Once off the platform, they request bank transfers for deposits and first month's rent without any of the platform's safeguards.
International Student Targeting
Scammers target international students who need accommodation before arriving in Australia. They list rooms near universities and exploit the fact that students cannot easily inspect the property from overseas.
What Flatmates.com.au's moderation and verification actually do
Flatmates.com.au runs listings through a moderation pipeline before they go live. In the platform's own public statement, the company says every listing is subject to over 20 automated security checks prior to publishing, backed by a dedicated listings-review team that manually verifies details, plus mandatory mobile verification tied to each listing. A full-time team monitors the site seven days a week and permanently bans any member found to have breached the terms of use or Community Charter.
The platform also offers a free identity-verification step that adds a verified badge to your profile, signalling that a member has confirmed who they are. Treat these signals as useful but partial: mobile verification only proves someone controls a phone number, and a scammer can still pass automated checks by copying a real address and photos from another listing. A verified badge raises the bar for a fraudster but does not guarantee the person actually controls the room they are advertising.
Reporting a suspicious listing or member, step by step
Flatmates.com.au gives you two direct reporting routes. You can report a listing from its own page using the report option on the listing, and you can report someone you are already messaging from within the message thread. Both routes send the case to the moderation team rather than to the other user, so the person you flag is not notified. If you can't find the reporting control, the platform's help pages and support contact can point you to the current process.
Before you report, capture evidence in case the listing is pulled: screenshot the listing, the profile, and the full message thread, and note any phone number, email, or payment details you were given. Keep everything inside Flatmates' own messaging until you have physically seen the room and have the keys, since an on-platform paper trail is far easier for moderators, and if needed police, to act on than texts or WhatsApp chats. If money has already changed hands, a same-day report to your bank and to Scamwatch (run by the National Anti-Scam Centre, part of the ACCC) preserves your options while Flatmates investigates.
What the platform protects you from, and what it doesn't
Moderation and mobile verification mainly filter out the crudest fakes and let Flatmates ban repeat offenders, but they do not vet whether an advertiser has the legal right to sublet, verify that photos match the actual room, or hold your money in escrow. There is no built-in payment system, so any bond, holding deposit, or first month's rent you send travels through your own bank with no platform-level recourse if the listing turns out to be fake.
The platform's protection also effectively ends the moment a conversation leaves its messaging system, which is exactly why fraudsters push to move you to text or email early. Because Flatmates cannot see or moderate off-platform chats, a request to pay before an in-person inspection, an overseas 'landlord' who cannot meet, or pressure to transfer a deposit to beat other interested renters are all warning signs the site itself will not catch for you. Insist on inspecting the property and meeting the person before any money moves, and keep the negotiation on Flatmates so its moderation and reporting tools can actually reach it.
Safety Tips for Flatmates.com.au
- ✓Always inspect the room in person before paying any money.
- ✓Meet the existing flatmates at the property to confirm they are real and the room is available.
- ✓Keep conversations on the Flatmates.com.au platform until you have verified the listing.
- ✓Be suspicious of rooms priced well below the average for the suburb.
- ✓If you are arriving from overseas, ask a friend, colleague, or university housing service to inspect on your behalf.
How to Report Scams on Flatmates.com.au
Report suspicious listings through the 'Report' button on the listing or profile page. For financial losses, report to Scamwatch at scamwatch.gov.au.
Report a Scam →Flatmates.com.au Scam Risk Level
Medium RiskFlatmates.com.au is rated as medium risk for rental scams. While the platform has some verification measures, scammers still find ways to exploit the system. Always verify listings and landlords independently before paying anything.
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