Police said the mother had found a prospective rental on the online marketplace Gumtree, and contacted the person she believed to be the owner to negotiate tenancy.
After some phone calls, she sent a deposit for the rental electronically.
The woman and her family then travelled to Berrigan to inspect the rental in person, only to find it was already occupied.
Murray River Police District Senior Constable Peter Joice said the woman was luckily able to stop the payment before it had cleared her account.
‘‘We see these types of things often,’’ he said.
‘‘It is a nasty fraud scam where people hijack ads from rental property websites so they appear legitimate.
‘‘You should never exchange money until certain steps have been followed.’’
It was one of two different scams reported to police in the past week.
A 36 year-old Finley woman fell for a phone scam making the rounds in the Southern Riverina and lost what police have described as a ‘‘significant’’ amount of money.
The woman told police she received a call on Thursday from someone reporting to be from the Australian Tax Office.
She was told her account was under investigation because of an attempted stolen identity case and that in order for the ATO to confirm her accounts, she needed to make gift card purchases without telling anyone why.
The woman drove to Deniliquin to purchase the cards, and then emailed photos of the cards and their security PINs to the provided gmail address.
Police said the email account was later confirmed to be fake.
Snr Const Joice said you should never relinquish money over the phone or online to anyone you don’t know, and said there are always signs of a scam.
‘‘Firstly, not a single government organisation asks for this as a request to confirm your identity,’’ he said.
‘‘If this ever happens, report it straight to police and we will tell you not to go any further.
‘‘Government agencies also don’t use gmail email accounts. Stay alert to the warning signs.
‘‘Be alert to people telling you not to tell anyone, and be more suspicious of blocked or unknown numbers.’’
Snr Const Joice said another scam reported in the region, including at Deniliquin, has been callers claiming to be from the Australian Federal Police.