When the opportunity arises to rent a property that you liked in an online ad, you should contact the ad's owner and discuss all issues, as there is a chance of encountering fraudsters who have developed multiple schemes related to housing rental.
Rental Fraud
One of the popular schemes of fraudsters is the prepayment for rented housing. Fraudsters post ads on websites offering apartments for rent, with rental prices significantly lower than average. Upon contacting the ad's owner, you will receive an offer to rent another property since this one is already rented. To not miss out on the new apartment, you need to urgently make a prepayment to secure the deal. After transferring the money, fraudsters provide a fake address where you need to go. The required prepayment is a rental scam.
Fake Rental Ads
To rent out a property, you need to be its owner. But this has never stopped fraudsters from creating fake ads on real estate rental websites. To do so, fraudsters need to:
- copy someone else's ad;
- change the details;
- replace the contact phone number;
- forge documents;
- significantly reduce the rent to attract as many victims as possible.
Rental Apartment Scams
Fraudsters temporarily rent someone else's property and schedule viewings with multiple potential renters, each at different times. This allows the fraudsters to make agreements with everyone who visits and agrees to rent. For the deal to work, the victim needs to make a prepayment of at least one month's rent. When the moving day arrives, it turns out that all the signatories gather at the apartment simultaneously, or the owner is unaware of the situation.
How to Recognize Rental Scammers
When signing a rental agreement, it is important to determine whether the person in front of you is the actual property owner or a fraudster.
Typically, fraudsters:
- do not provide documents proving property ownership;
- rush the decision to avoid missing out on a great offer;
- ask for a commission to finalize the agreement;
- demand immediate prepayment with a deposit;
- offer suspiciously low prices or discounts for the first month's rent.
Real Estate Rental Scams
When making a real estate rental transaction, it is crucial to sign various contracts and agreements, even if the property's owner is a relative or acquaintance. This gives the tenant certain rights to use the property and the ability to receive keys immediately. If not done, the owner could, for example, change the locks after the prepayment, preventing entry. Without a rental agreement, it's impossible to prove anything.
Often, fraudsters avoid formalizing agreements to avoid extra tax expenses, and many tenants agree to such schemes, risking losing their money without getting the property. The goal of fraudsters is not to rent out the property but to deceive the victim into paying an advance fee.
Fake Landlords
Fraudsters pose as landlords, found on property rental ad websites offering reduced prices. The victim is invited to visit a well-presented office, where they are met by respectable-looking individuals. To further convince the client, various diplomas, licenses, and certificates are displayed on the office walls. Numerous positive reviews are posted on such firms' websites to assure the victim that everything is in order. In the victim's presence, they contact landlords and arrange meeting times, appearing very credible.
The victim agrees to sign a contract and pay a commission for the provided services, only to find that the property at the given address doesn't exist for rent. In the end, these fake landlords are not a real estate agency but an informational organization not obliged to conduct transactions.
Short-term Rental Scams
Short-term rental refers to renting a property on a daily basis. For their purposes, fraudsters may use an apartment they have rented to earn money. Such scams are executed by fraudsters:
- offering different prices;
- possibly house-sitting for acquaintances in their absence.
Therefore, short-term renting of someone else's property is the most profitable option for fraudsters. The property's owner may never know how their apartment was used to make money.
Deposit Scams for Apartments
A deposit is an unfavorable form of prepayment, as if one decides not to move into the apartment, the money is not refunded. In case of a deal breakdown due to the owner's fault, the owner must return the money doubled.
Fraudsters often use the deposit scheme to deceive victims and not return the money. Fake ads are offered, copied from the internet. Sometimes fraudsters use artificial intelligence to create fake rental ads, demanding a deposit and guaranteeing the fulfillment of obligations, but in reality, the property was never intended to be rented because it does not exist.