Someone named Zhu Lan contacted me on gumtree, appears to be from overseas. In the initial email, the person send me 'her' ic photo which at first seems like a sincere person looking for a room. However, sometimes seems off as she kind of agree to everything very quickly and okay with the room without even coming down to view it personally.

The person even offered to pay the rent of the first 3 months, as 'she' need to show the employer the proof of rent before she can quit her current oversea job as a cruise chef.

I notice something was off when she asked me to register for a paypal account, its the way the email was structured like it was meant to send as a mass phishing email scam. The next thing was the whatsapp number 'she' provide was a +63 philippines number.

Afterward i did a search on her name, it indeed was a scam as other fellow singaporean already encountered this same person few months ago.

I only lost my paypal email , name and phone number information. I just hope to bring awareness to other people renting room to be careful of this particular scam.

She offered pay 3 months in advance by paypal, but before paying, she will ask you to pay for her mover fee which is around $500 that she will include in the rental fee afterwards.

If someone approaches you to give you months' of rental in advance, be wary!