The case of Ella, lured into a non-existent tour guide job by a company whose "head office" turned out to be an empty commercial property, is on its surface a consumer protection story. But for landlords, asset managers and commercial property investors, it points to a far more consequential trend: the exploitation of vacant units by fraudulent operators seeking to manufacture legitimacy. With UK town centre vacancy rates still running at close to 13-14% according to the British Retail Consortium and Local Data Company, and swathes of secondary office and retail stock sitting empty in cities from Newcastle to Birmingham, the opportunity for bad actors to squat on addresses, list them as trading premises, or use them as props for scams has never been greater.