Privacy and security
Privacy and security
Though the vast majority of people want to help you find your next home, despite our best efforts there will always be a small number of fraudsters out there who want to try and trick you into giving up some of your personal details or parting with money.
TIP: Hadsul will never ask you to confirm your password for MyHadsul.
Here are our top tips for staying safe, and avoiding fraud, when looking for property online:
An agent or landlord may ask you to pay a ‘holding deposit’ to secure a viewing, which is an acceptable request under the Tenants Fee Act 2019, but they can only ask you to pay a maximum of 1 weeks rent. More information about this Act can be found here.
All lettings agents are required to be part of a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme, which helps tenants protect the deposits they put down for properties, so before making a payment we recommend asking the agent what scheme they are a member of. You can search for that agent on that schemes ‘member search’ section on their website.
Often a fraudster will create urgency by saying that in order for you to book a viewing or secure a property, you will need to transfer money. Our customers understand looking for the right property can take some time and they would not pressure you in transferring money.
Be especially sceptical if you are asked to transfer money via an uncommon money transfer service such as Bitcoin. This type of transfer is virtual, not controlled by banks and not easily traceable.
We recommend not making any cash payments for properties, as these will also not be easily traceable.
When enquiring about a property you’ve seen on Hadsul, click the ‘Request Details’ on the listing or call using the phone number underneath the button. This will go directly through to the estate or letting agent.
For more advice on how to stay secure online, the National Cyber Security Centre provides practical steps you can take to improve the security of your online accounts. You can also use their free cyber security self-assessment tool to get a personalised list of actions to help you or your family boost your cyber security. Follow this link to learn more and receive your personalised list of actions.
What Hadsul will never ask you for
Please be wary if anyone ever contacts you by email, call, social media message or SMS saying that they work for Hadsul, and asking you for:
Personal details
Hadsul will never contact you asking for password details for your MyHadsul account. If you are asked for personal information, such as your passport details or any passwords, do not give them out.
If you are approached by someone saying they work for Hadsul and you don’t believe they are genuine, or you are asked to pay money to Hadsul, please let us know straight away by emailing fraud@hadsul.com.
Common scams we’ve heard about
Though the vast majority of people want to help you find your next home, despite our best efforts there will always be a small number of fraudsters out there who want to try and trick you into giving up some of your personal details or parting with money.
Here are some of the most common ways that fraudsters may try and trick you.
You should only be asked to make a payment before viewing a property when asked to put down a ‘holding deposit’ – this should only be a maximum of 1 weeks rent
With advance fee scams, a fraudster will often offer a highly desirable property in a popular location that is well below what you would normally pay for a similar property in that area.
They may try and trick you into giving them money by setting up a fake page of another well-known property or lettings website. In some cases, these pages could have a padlock in the top left of the page, so they could look convincing. They may even set up a fake instant chat with you on one of these fake web pages and even provide you with a fake invoice (see guidance on phishing pages below).
You should never agree to send money using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
When asked to make a bank transfer payment, double check that the name on that account matches the person or company you have been interacting with.
Fraudsters may try to use the Hadsul name on other websites or by getting in contact with you to try and make you think that they work for Hadsul.
One example of this is if you’re searching a classifieds website or other property website and come across a listing of a fake property, mentioning the Hadsul name.
If you see a property on another website that mentions Hadsul you can contact us here.
If you would like to know if an agent is a current member of Hadsul you can do this by using our ‘Find Agent’ section by clicking here.
Hadsul owns and operates a property advertising portal; we do not have any affiliate relationships outside of the property market.
Yes we do, this is called Hadsul Landlord and Tenants Services (RLTS).
What is phishing?
‘Phishing’ is when criminals use scam emails, SMS or chat messages, phone calls or social media to trick their victims. Their goal is often to make you visit a website, which may download a virus onto your computer, or steal bank details or other personal information. Follow the NCSC’s phishing guidance to learn how to recognise and report suspicious emails, texts, websites, adverts or phone calls that you think are trying to scam you.
We will only send you emails from addresses with the following email domains:
- @hadsul.co.uk
- @e.hadsul.co.uk
- @hadsul.com
A common phishing email may ask you to click on a link that takes you through to a fake webpage to fill in some personal details. One way to check if the website is genuine is to look in the top left corner of your browser.
If you are on a page that appears to be Hadsul but does not have an address that starts with this, then please contact us straight away to let us know.
In general, it’s best to go straight to the website or via Google if you have any doubt about the validity of the email you have received from a company (rather than clicking on the link in the email).
Do you think you have been a victim of any of these scams?
We recommend that you report it to Action Fraud immediately and also please report it to us by emailing our team.
How to spot a fake advert, email or text message
We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the key ways you can spot fake or rogue adverts, emails or text messages:
Often a fraudster will say they have a property to sell or rent that is much cheaper than others you may have looked at in the same area. Here are some quick checks you can do:
- Do a search of that property address on Google Maps and see if the result matches the images on the listing
We have a specialist team who are constantly monitoring our site for fake listings. Here are some of the common characteristics of a fake advert.
- A line of text in the images of the listings asking the home-hunter to contact an email address for quicker responses.
- A few properties uploaded by the same agent in a short space of time and all of these properties are in various locations across the UK.
- A property is advertised in an area that is a large distance away from where the agents branch is located, if it’s a local estate agent (rather than an online or national agent).
We recommend that you always view the property before making any payment, but if you are asked to make a holding deposit payment to secure a viewing check that this is only a maximum of 1 weeks rent and ask the agent to confirm what Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme they are a member of.
Fraudulent email addresses and web pages are designed to look legitimate but have small differences, such as including random characters in the website address link (numbers, letters or other characters such as &,%,$ or �). In some cases, the differences in the spelling of a company name can be extremely subtle, or may just include a few extra characters at the beginning.
As an example, a fraudster may try to replace the ‘l’ in ‘Hadsul’ with a ‘1’ so that the website address was www.hadsu1.com, instead of www.hadsul.com.
If you’re ever in any doubt, you can type the website address into your search bar to go straight to a company’s website rather than clicking on a link.
This could be sending you to a fake website they have set up and may ask you to log-in with your personal details. Only click a link or open attachments if it comes from a sender that you trust. If you are required to provide personal information to an agent or landlord you could do this in person or verbally over the phone, making sure you are speaking to that agent using their official branch contact number advertised on Hadsul.
Fraudsters often introduce an element of urgency into their communications – this is intended to cause people to shortcut their decision making process and not carry out the checks described on this page. For this reason it’s especially important that to be wary of emails that ask for urgent action.
You can find out more about the costs associated with renting or buying in our property guides centre.
Other types of fraud
Fraudsters may use other communication methods such as fake text messages or phones calls and in some cases you could be at risk of malware or other viruses, especially if they ask you to click on attachments. You can find out more about the latest fraud methods by visiting Action Fraud.
Getting in touch
If you think you may have been a victim of a scam or you’re unsure and want some help, you can email us at fraud@hadsul.com or call us on +44 7729 902711.