Staying safe on BlowIns

1. How old you need to be

You need to be at least 16 to build a Student Passport and use BlowIns.

Most students planning the move are still in Year 12, so we do not lock under-18s out of the parts of BlowIns that matter. You can find housing, scholarships and work, and you can message other students.

If you are 16 or 17, two things work differently:

• Your chats stay on BlowIns. You cannot send phone numbers, email addresses, street addresses or social media handles in messages. Moving a conversation off the platform is where things stop being visible to us, and where we can no longer help if something goes wrong.
• Inspections and meet-ups should involve an adult you trust. A parent, guardian, older sibling or your university accommodation office. Never attend a property inspection on your own.

If we find an account has given a false age, we will close it.

2. Who can contact you

BlowIns is not an open messaging platform, and that is a safety decision rather than a limitation.

• Nobody can message you first. Messaging only unlocks when two students have each chosen to connect with the other.
• Your contact details stay private. Other students see your first name, suburb, university and interests. They never see your email, phone number, exact address or surname unless you choose to share it.
• Under-18 chats stay on-platform. Students aged 16 to 17 cannot share contact details in messages. If someone under 18 asks you to move to another app, that is a red flag, not a limitation to work around.
• You can end it instantly. Blocking someone stops all messages in both directions, immediately, and hides the conversation.

3. Meeting someone in person

This is the moment where the most care is needed, whether you are meeting a potential flatmate or inspecting a room. Every year students get hurt or scammed at exactly this step. Please read this properly.

• Tell someone where you are going. Share the address and the time with a parent, friend or housemate, and tell them when you are done.
• Meet in a public place first if you are meeting a potential flatmate. A cafe near the property, not the property itself.
• Take someone with you to an inspection where you can. Never inspect a property alone at night.
• Keep your phone charged and on you.
• Trust your gut. If something feels off when you arrive, you are allowed to leave. You do not owe anyone an explanation, and no genuine lister will pressure you.

4. Rental scams, and how to avoid them

Students moving from the country are targeted for rental scams precisely because they often cannot inspect a place before paying. The pattern is almost always the same, so it is easy to spot once you know it.

Walk away immediately if:

• You are asked to pay a bond or rent before inspecting the property, or before signing a lease.
• You are asked to pay by bank transfer, gift card, crypto or an overseas account.
• The lister refuses a video call or a walk-through of the property.
• The rent is far below everything else in that suburb.
• You are told to decide today because "someone else is interested".
• The lister wants to move the conversation off BlowIns straight away.

Never pay money to someone you have not verified, for a property you or someone you trust has not seen. If you cannot travel to inspect, ask a friend, relative or the university accommodation office to attend for you. Most universities will help with this.

5. Community rules

Using BlowIns means agreeing to these. Breaking them gets your account closed.

• Be who you say you are. One passport per person, real details, real age.
• No harassment, threats, abuse, or contacting someone after they have asked you to stop.
• No sexual content, and no sexual advances toward anyone on the platform.
• No discrimination based on race, religion, disability, sexuality, gender or background, in messages or listings.
• No scams, no fake listings, no asking students for money outside a legitimate, documented tenancy.
• No sharing anyone else's details or private messages without their permission.

6. Reporting someone

You can report any student from your conversation with them, using the Report option in the message thread. Tell us what happened. It takes a moment and the person is never told who reported them.

You can also email blowinsenquiries@gmail.com at any time, including about a listing or something that happened off the platform.

What we do with it. We aim to look at every report within 2 business days. Depending on what we find we may warn the person, remove content, or permanently close their account. Where there is a risk to someone's safety we will act faster, and we will contact the police where we believe someone is in danger.

We are a small team and we are honest about that: we are not moderating messages around the clock. That is exactly why reporting matters, and why we take it seriously when you do.

7. If you are in immediate danger

Do not report it to us first. Contact these people, who are available right now:

• Emergency (Police, Ambulance, Fire): 000
• Police Assistance Line (non-urgent): 131 444
• Lifeline: 13 11 14, 24 hours, for crisis support
• Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800, free and confidential for ages 5 to 25
• 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732, for sexual assault, family and domestic violence
• eSafety Commissioner: esafety.gov.au, to report serious online abuse or image-based abuse

Then tell us as well, so we can close the account and stop it happening to someone else.

8. What we are not

We think being clear about this keeps you safer than pretending otherwise.

• We are not a real estate agent and we do not manage properties, hold bonds or handle rent.
• We do not run police checks on students or listers.
• We do not inspect every property ourselves.
• A match score is a guide based on the information given to us. It is not a safety guarantee about a person or a place.

Please do your own checks: verify the person letting the property has the right to let it, get every agreement in writing, and never hand over money for something you have not seen.

9. Tenancy help, free

If you are unsure about a lease, a bond or your rights as a renter, you do not have to work it out alone. These services are free:

• NSW Fair Trading: fairtrading.nsw.gov.au, 13 32 20
• Tenants' Union of NSW: tenants.org.au
• Your university accommodation service, which will usually review a lease for you at no cost

10. Talk to us

If something on BlowIns worries you, or you think we have got something wrong, email blowinsenquiries@gmail.com. A real person reads it.

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