The Latest Rental Scam
Written by: Chelsy Vaughn Martin
It seems like whenever I open my e-mail lately, another warning about a scam is waiting in my inbox. Today, I got a memo from the company about rental scams. According the the IRA "a typical scenario involves an individual who is not the owner or owner's agent placing an ad to scam the unsuspecting public out of money for deposits."
Great! Now I have to go to Google to check all of our listings, not that it's easy to find the scams. According to our Regional Operations Manager, one of the agents I work with had a scam reported. They were told it was listed on Zillow, but they couldn't find it when they tried to search for it. Finally they discovered that it was buried on the second page, somewhat hidden.
This e-mail gave me tips on how to find and also prevent this scam from happening to my listings. They said not to list my email or phone number. Excuse me! How are interested parties going to contact me about my listings if I don't provide them with any CONTACT(key word here) information? Obviously checking craigslist and other sites known to advertise for rentals is a must. But what I want to share with you, is how to spot a rental scam. As an agent, I'm going to do everything that I can to prevent this from happening to one of my listings, but obviously some agents won't do the work and even the ones who do, won't be able to prevent it every time.
So, how do you spot if the rental property you are interested in is a scam? According to Indiana Realtor Advocate, these are the red flags you need to look for:
- If the rental price is too good to be true it probably is! According to Ken Vaughn, prices in Fort Wayne for rentals run from around $650-$1500 depending upon location, size and quality obviously.
- Don't send money up front to anyone you don't know or before you see a property or sign a lease.
- Don't deposit a check from someone and then agree to wire money back for an overage. Return the check if you receive over payment.
- Will the owner only interact with you online? Can the owner show you the property or make arrangements for you to see it?
- Wiring money required.
- Urgency... "I need to hear from you today!"
- Never provide your bank account number, routing number or other financial or personal information.
- Bottom line: Trust your gut!
If this happens to you, report it! You can file a complaint at www.ic3.gov if you have been a victim of internet crime. Also, you can file with the local law enforcement. File with the Indiana Attorney General by logging on to www.Indianaconsumer.com or calling their Consumer Hotline at 1-800-382-5516. File with the Indiana State Police by going to www.in.gov/isp, go to the about ISP tab and select your geographic area, it will identify a corresponding number depending on where you reside.
This really aggravates me, it's just another thing that we as agents have to be concerned about and you as a consumer have to worry about. But, the more you know, the less likely it is to happen to you. The biggest thing here is that only the agent or the owner should be able to get inside the house. If they can't show it to you at some point, there is a reason. Also, if you notice that a listing is being fraudulently represented by someone other than the owner or agent, try to contact them if at all possible. By helping one another we can hopefully eliminate the incentives for scammers to do this to people!
