Watch out for Rental Scams on Classified Websites

May 25, 2010 Real Estate Information Various Posts, 3

Finding Homes for Rent on the Internet is much harder than looking for homes for sale. When looking for rentals, there isn’t a central database . People looking for rentals have to visit multiple websites or newspapers. Now, the rental search has gotten even more complicated .

There are a bunch of “fake rentals” on online classified websites . The thing so tricky about these is that the scammers are using real properties for sale . The scammers copy’s the real estate agents information, and photos , then list the homes as really inexpensive rentals . The scam artists are even making up fake emails that are almost like the real estate agents real names . In one of the examples we recently had our real estate agents for sale home listings for sale was posted as a Craigslist rental ad for $600 and the fake email address was one letter different than his real email . At market value , a house like this would collect rent almost double what the fake listed price is.

When interested renters contact the fake landlord, the scammers reply with a message saying they are out of town and are unable to show them the house , but they will allow them to try the house out free for the first month . All the potential renter needs to do is send in the security deposit, and they will be sent the keys .

In Reality , what will really happen is that the scam landlords will take the money , and no keys are actually delivered because its not for rent .

So if you’re searching for homes for rent on the internet , watch out for homeowners who only provide email addresses as contact information , especially if the rent price is too good to be true .

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