How to avoid rental scams

Koheli

Rental scams, unfortunately, have been rising during the covid 19 pandemic. There will always be misguided scammers. It always a rise in the number of rental scammers in day-to-day life. It is important to know about fraud awareness to avoid financial and emotional stress. Scammers are always evolving. So rental scammers have become a major problem in the rental industry as scammers found a creative way to use online posts by luring tenants. They are different versions of rental scams which work them.

The most common thing the scammers does is take the property images and post them on legitimate sites for the sale or rental of properties. They target the needy and create such posts to attract the finders. The main concept is to wish for the tenants to have reached out to them. The scammer is not even genuine. He may be a non-residence in the local area. The key points for scammers are getting the application fee, security deposit, and the first month’s rent. In this way, the scam will be completed. Rental scams happen every day. The tenant should be with the warning signs of a rental scam.  

Scammers will lure with accommodation: 

· The rent is lower with the properties in the same local area. 

· Always check the rent index with the neighbourhood guides' average online prices.

· The images will be different from the rental properties 

· They offer immediate move in the no background.

The scammer will gamble with words not to meet up with the tenants:

The house owner will show you everything about the rental property if they are away from their property too. They assign some to show the property to the tenants. Now coming to the scammer’s excuse of saying, “I am not in the town, please check by yourself “, these scammers use reasons not to turn up in physical appearance. To get this sorted out, ask them to interact via video chat with the current tenants or inform them that you want to check the apartment or the room.

Scammers will hurry you to pay the rent:

Scammers will always be insistent about receiving the payment right away. They make a scene like the other tenants are available instantly with more price. They lure you with words saying that they like to offer you a better price. In this behaviour, the tenants will fall for the trap and sign the dealing agreement.

A lot of questions will annoy the scammers:

If the tenants ask for additional information about the images, videos, answers, and questions is a red flag. Scammers always want to take the money quickly and move to the next victim. They do the process slowly to upload the documents or pictures to create the agitation.

They will create fake and unfair agreements:

Scammers will create documents that will be genuine and make you believe that it is a rentalagreement. This is a risk where people easily believe and pay attention to them:

· they will pressure you to pay the rent before signing the agreement.

· No mentions of the rental addresses or incorrect addresses.

· The owner’s personal information will be missing or incorrect.

· There’s no check for the document, which typically asks for bank statements.

· They try to ignore answering some questions that the tenants will ask.

· They will recommend a high deposit of money to pay.

Scammers will not verify the tenants:

Most scammers will not expect any documents from the tenants. Only expect payment instantly from the tenants.

The proofs genuinely asked by the landlords:

· Identification card

· Proof Income

· Proof of the employment 

· Nominee

If they don’t ask for any details from the above, it means fraud. If they ask, also it means to steal your identity! It may irritate them or give a bad response if you ask why and what, so you’re dealing with the scammer.

Preparing outsmarts identification with fake details: 

Scammers will make you believe that it is a real identity. If the tenants will ask for the official Id copies. If they share personal information, we cannot assume any guarantee it may be fake or real. The tenants' perspective is to share and upload their IDs and create new profiles based on the stolen identity.

Avoid social media from scammers:

Using social media can be tempting, while Facebook groups are great. Finding houses on such a platform is risky. On Facebook, they understand your fears and demand for renting a furnished place and convince you in several ways to get money from you.

Creating new profiles: 

Scammers create numerous new profiles to lure tenants. They constantly create new accounts and target the tenants.

Old post images on the social media platform:

They display the old posting to make them believe it’s genuine, with similar houses and comments. They have comments and likes from the scammer’s fake accounts.

Conclusion:

If you face the suspect of a rental scam, be sure to report it to the authorities or post the image on social media with the chat conversation or any proof that they are fake. You may not get money, but you can stop their scam thread.

Frequently Asked Questions