Domain real estate cyber-attack sees rental applicants asked to pay fake deposits by third party

Australian rental applicants have been targeted in an elaborate phishing scam after an unauthorised third party gained access to Domain’s administrative systems.

In a statement to 7NEWS.com.au, Domain CEO Jason Pellegrino confirmed the real estate listing portal had become the target of a cyber-attack.

As a result, some users who had made rental enquiries were then contacted by the scammers via email and asked to provide a deposit to secure their prefered property.

“We have identified a scam that used a phishing attack to gain access to Domain’s administrative systems to engage with people who have made rental property enquiries,” Pellegrino said.

“We understand the scammers then contacted some of these people by email to suggest that they pay a ‘deposit’ to secure a rental property on a website nominated by the scammer.

“While this…