Date:   Wednesday, January 25, 2024
Author:   ICS Admin




Looking for an apartment should be an easy process. Local properties should be listed in various classified ads, such as Craigslist, a local newspaper, or Facebook Marketplace. Sadly, over the last three years, rental units have not only become scarce, but they have also skyrocketed in price. Then, on top of the eye-widening rental prices, there is an onslaught of scammers targeting renters with identity theft or worse.

The following won't explain the scarcity of apartments or the absurd pricing. Instead, these tips are to help you avoid being targeted by scammers.
The Basics
Scammers employ clickbait in their ads, listing low rent, great images, and a list of options that are unlikely to be true. They will even copy legitimated ads and repost them as their own. The scammer's goal is to get your cell phone number.

Once you send them your number, they will text you a link to complete an online application. The application will be through some unknown internet entity that promises secure and reliable credit and background checks. Several of these companies are so new that no online reviews can establish their legitimacy.

Scammers have also adopted many quips that legitimate property owners use, such as saying the application fee will be returned or applied to the first month's rent. This statement has been seen in ads and received in text messages.

In other cases, the goal is physically getting you to the property. The person behind the ad will likely request to meet you after dark. In this case, they are either hoping you will miss some of the misleading details that were in the ad and get you to sign a lease or rob you at gunpoint. The latter will be someone with no known association with the property.
Tips and Warning Signs
1) Use Google's image search function. Do the pictures in the ad show up in other ads with different addresses?
2) Avoid ads that use special alphanumeric characters to get your attention. A typical homeowner or business will not be bothered with such details. They are trying to rent the unit as soon as possible. So, if you see the @ sign delineating the ad's title or other special characters in the body of the ad, that is a red flag.

Also, the use of camel notation is another indicator of a scammer. Camel notation is when you put capitalization inside a word or phrase where it is not expected, such as "phone nuMBER." In one case, it was assumed that was how the scammer could identify his ads from the legitimate ones.
3) Be wary of ads that are requesting your phone number. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace have mechanisms to protect the property owner from unsolicited offers and scammers. They can easily communicate with you through e-mail or Facebook Messenger. Then, when you feel comfortable, you can exchange your cell phone information to pursue the rental.
4) Get a free phone number.

One such vendor is TextNow: https://www.textnow.com/

Use the free phone number for all calls and texts. 99% of the time, the scammer will text you.

 

5) Get a disposable e-mail account. There are various mail services out there.

Two of the more common solutions are:

TempMail https://temp-mail.org/en/
Gmail https://www.google.com/gmail

As you respond to the various classified ads, use your free e-mail account.

 

6) When you get a text, verify the phone number. You can use the following three options to verify the phone number:

True People Search https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/
Free Carrier Lookup https://freecarrierlookup.com/

Or a search engine such as Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, etc..

When using a search engine, enter the phone number in various formats to help expand your search results.

Examples
+19998881234
19998881234
(999) 888-1234
"(999) 888-1234" quotation marks can make a difference.

If you do not get any results, be wary. Homeowners are established residents, and in the United States, their phone numbers are typically well-known by the various data brokers and are searchable online.

If the area code is hundreds of miles away, that should be considered a red flag.

If the phone number returns information about a carrier, such as:

BANDWIDTH.COM-NSR-10X/1
Sinch Voice-NSR-10X-Port/1
T-Mobile US-SVR-10X/2
etc.,

you can be assured that it is a scammer. They are using an internet phone service. Such services provide them with a local number for free or at a reduced rate.

 

7) If the person provides you with a name, Google it. Please remember to use quotes around the name, which will return additional results.

In one case, the scammer provided the name of a well-known commercial real estate broker that was over a thousand miles away. It was such a unique name that my search was easy. In addition, her phone number did not match the one I was given. Nor did it match any of her office numbers. The final red flag was that the scammer contacted me late at night. A professional such as that could not be bothered with a homeowner's tiny apartment so far away after hours.

The following day, another scammer used the name of a large rental management company, asking for an application fee that was 60% of the stated rent. The company was over a thousand miles away. The ad had incorrect information about the local address. What was more telling was that they requested that you text them your phone number. Such a company would have provided you with a link to their website and would not have any issues with e-mail inquiries.

 

8) When the "property owner" responds, ask them for the address of the rental property if it wasn't in the advertisement. Try to give them the idea that you are wondering how far away the residence is from your job. Many scammers will ignore the question. They will tell you that you have to fill out the application before they answer any questions.

 

9) If you are provided with an address, look it up and verify the property listing. Often, Zillow and other real estate companies will list the property. They will indicate if there is an apartment on the grounds or if it is an apartment building. Then, use Google Maps satellite and street view options to learn as much as possible.

Is there a resident at the location? Is it a business, a park, or something else? Does the information on those real estate sites confirm an apartment is located at that address?

Does the property look like it costs more than a million dollars? Then, it is unlikely that an apartment is located at the residence. However, if you want to believe that it might be true, do the pictures of the apartment's interior look like they would be in a million-dollar property? Do they match photographs of the main house's interior that you can find on those real estate websites?

Do the interior photos indicate that there is a skylight? But, on Google Maps, the house has a regular roof.

Did the classified ad indicate that there are "just" two units in the building? It might be possible to see on Google Maps if that is true or not. Look at the number of doors, mailboxes, and power meters. Please remember that property owners can have an additional power meter for electricity in the basement, water pump, etc. Therefore, a two-unit apartment building may have three power meters.

 

10) Never apply online without knowing who is requesting the information. Generally, housing units will be managed by registered businesses with valid websites and using reputable third parties to run credit and background checks. They will offer to mail you an application or state that you can pick one up at their office.

 

11) When asking questions, pay close attention to the responses. If they fail to respond to something you stated or ask a question in a manner that seems like a script, it is a scam. In one case, the scammer did not speak English, and it was easy to figure that out. They had no idea what the word "cat" meant. They kept asking if I had a pet. Yes, it can be that easy sometimes to figure out it's a scammer.

 

12) Before you agree to any credit and background checks, you should be aware of your State laws. You should also request information on how the landlord or property agents will protect your information. Are they going to sell it? Can you opt out of sharing your information with third parties?

I have seen two locations advertise daily, but neither have any units available. They claim they will put you on a waiting list once you complete the application. The application clearly states they can sell your information as part of their application process. If you do not agree to the terms, you cannot apply and will not be on any waiting list. The selling of your personal information is a lucrative business.

 

Who are the Scammers?
They can be anyone. They can be located at the rental property, live next door, or be somewhere in your country or abroad.

Many of these scammers are Weekend Warriors. They do not respond to their ads until the weekend, late at night, or on holiday (international and country-specific). It is likely they have jobs or other responsibilities that prevent them from contacting you immediately.

Please do not be fooled by the phone number matching the local area. Local numbers are easily obtained. And the scammers have a bunch of them at their disposal. I have blocked one number just to be contacted again the same day for another fake ad by the same scammer.

 

One Last Note
As a computer professional, I cannot tell you how often I helped local realtors and end users recover from being hacked. Sadly, I know of no instance where the protections that were put in place remained. Every one of those clients failed to keep up their security patches, turned off their security updates, failed to renew their antivirus, and so on. It's an excellent business for me. But, as a prospective renter, it is a nightmare. And these same businesses refuse to tell anyone that they have been hacked.