A regional daily’s investigation has exposed Facebook scammers who exploit vulnerable renters with fake online property listings.

A probe by Manchester Evening News reporter Stephen Topping has uncovered the practice, known as ‘rental fraud’, in which con artists demand hundreds of pounds to view or put down deposits on properties being listed by legitimate letting agents.

Meta, Facebook’s owner, has since vowed to to stamp out the problem in Greater Manchester after being confronted with Stephen’s findings.

Stephen, pictured, was first alerted to the issue after noticing a Facebook post about a scam affecting someone in Droylsden, which prompted him to conduct his own search on the social media site.

There, he found several examples of properties listed as being available for hundreds of pounds less than advertised by letting agents.

Stephen was subsequently able to contact one of the scammers via WhatsApp, but was told he would need to send a security deposit of £500 in order to booke a viewing the following day.

Meta has now pledged to investigate, telling the MEN it will remove listings that violate its policies.

Speaking to HTFP, Stephen said: “I became aware of the issue affecting some residents in part of my patch, so wanted to see how much of an issue it was, and what would happen when I contacted one of the scammers.

“Greater Manchester has a well-known issue with housing shortages and it’s disgraceful that scammers are preying on people looking for somewhere to live – often targeting those with smaller budgets by undercutting the real rents advertised by genuine letting agents.

“We’ve had responses from readers who say they have spotted the issue or even lost money from the scam, so it’s really important that we have been able to bring this to light and warn people about it.”

A spokesperson for Meta told the MEN: “We don’t want fraudulent or inauthentic behaviour on our platforms and we’re sorry people are being misled in this way.

“We continue to invest in people and technology to remove this type of activity from our platforms, and we urge people to report any suspicious listings, accounts or posts to us and the police, so that we can take action.

“We’ve also donated £3 million to Citizens Advice to deliver a UK Scam Action Programme which raises awareness of online scams and helps victims.”