Summer is peak season for moving. It's also peak season for rental scams, where someone advertises an apartment or home that is not really for rent.
And if you or someone in your family is looking for a rental this summer, it is essential you know about a scam that has stolen millions of dollars from renters everywhere the past few years, and has gotten worse due to the tight housing market.
Toya Washington is the latest victim, a Cincinnati woman who needed a new place to live.
"I'm looking for an apartment," she said, "and I found a lady on Facebook."
The Facebook Marketplace listing showed a 2-bedroom in a newer complex in Avondale.
"It was a 2-bedroom apartment for $600-something a month," Washington said.
She sent a $350 deposit immediately, to hold the unit until she could tour it in person.
"I looked and made sure it was legit," she said. "I looked on Zillow and found out the building was legit. But she wasn't legit."
That's right: The apartment really exists, but with rents on nice 2-bedrooms $1,200 or more in the area, the $600 listing was bogus, a copycat posting of what had been a legitimate apartment for rent.
The listed landlord was not really the landlord at all.
The same thing happened to Victoria Wells last year, who found a perfect single family home for rent in Covington, also on Facebook Marketplace.
"It was perfect," Wells said, "the most beautiful one I had seen in a long time."
She sent a $400 deposit through a money app.
"We went ahead and Cash App'd it to him to hold it," she said.
But it was the last the Wells heard from him, as he wasn't the real landlord.
Red flags of a rental scam
This is happening more and more these days… because the scam keeps getting more sophisticated.
Scammers find a home for sale, and copy all the photos.
Then they pretend to be potential buyers and in some cases even get the front door code from the real estate agent, so that you can get in and tour the vacant rental.
So don't let this happen to you.
The FTC says be suspicious of rental listings if:
- The landlord wants a deposit before you have met.
- You can't go inside the home (though sometimes the scammers are able to let you inside).
- The "landlord" asks for a deposit via Venmo, Zelle, or gift cards, which are untraceable.
We tried to track down Toya's Washington's scammer, but the phony Facebook page and her money is gone.
It's been a tough two years for Washington, whose 26-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver two years ago. Now this.
"It's not fair to scam anybody. It's not right," she said.
Bottom line: Even if an apartment or home really exists, that's no guarantee the person listing it is really the landlord.
Don't send deposit money without meeting them, so you don't waste your money.
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