Malaysian-based fraudsters place fake Gumtree ads to scam Queensland renters Tenille Ranger was nearly duped into renting a house advertised through Gumtree from a Malaysian-based woman who did not even own the home. A NEW scam has emerged in Queensland - offshore fraudsters renting out houses they don't even own. Gold Coast woman Tenille Ranger was among several people who nearly lost thousands of dollars to a Malaysian-based scammer offering an Oxenford property for "rent" on popular trading site Gumtree. Ms Ranger said she saw the ad, liked the look of the property and made contact with a woman she thought was the landlord. "The woman called herself Courtney and was very, very good," she said. She said she was living in Malaysia as a missionary and sent me the rental application form and asked me how soon I could pay the bond and advance rent. Everything seemed legitimate enough. But Ms Ranger said she smelt a rat when she received a form which had obviously been filled out before and a text request from "Courtney" to wire the money into a Western Union account. "This low-life bitch could have easily taken $1750 from me which I work bloody hard for," she said. Who knows if she managed to scam money from someone else? There are struggling single mums out there and other people who could easily fall for this type of fraud. She could also potentially leave someone homeless if they happened to move out of a property to take one of the dodgy properties she is offering. The home's owner, Jimboomba woman Pauline Thompson, was furious at being caught up in the scam. Ms Thompson said she barely used a computer and was shocked to see the house for rent on Gumtree after she had placed it with a local real estate agent. She said Ms Ranger was among several people who turned up at the house to inspect it after seeing the Gumtree ad. "It was listed for rent on realestate.com.au so that's how the scammer obviously got the details," she said. I think we managed to save five people from losing their money.. Ms Thompson said Gumtree did not have a phone contact and she had complained via email but received no reply. She was also angry that police said there was nothing they could do as it was an offshore scam. The Gumtree website contains warnings about common scams but bogus property rentals are not yet listed.