As the nation has become flooded with surplus inventory for sale, manipulative con artists have been using multiple service listing (MLS) advertisements as a way to scam unknowing renters. Across the nation, rental scams have been on the rise and the most recent stores should provide cautionary advice to renters who believe that they have found a property listing that is too good to be true.

Craigslist Posting Leads To Rental Scam

Illinois tenant, Cassandra Johnson, has received the unfortunate title of being the most recent scam victim. According to NBCChicago.com, Johnson innocently replied to a rental listing posted on Craigslist that suggested that the landlord was renting the property as he was going to do missionary work abroad. In order to secure the property, Johnson wired the deposit and visited the property to pick up the keys. It was at that time that she discovered that the Bontz family was happily living inside and that the property was not available for her living needs.

A neighbor previously warned Adam Bontz about the scam advertisement on Craigslist and in turn, Bontz contacted the service provider directly to remove the listing. The organization did nothing despite Adam's insistence that the ad was indeed fraudulent and that inaction is attributed to the inability to contact a human being for the business. As a result, Cassandra was scammed out of her $800 deposit that the faker demanded as a term of securing the fake rental property.

How the Scam Is Conducted

Scam artists of any nature have many tools in their arsenal of deception, but for real estate scams the most common accessory is an authentic MLS ad promoting a property for sale. Once a homeowner decides to sell a home, one of the first actions is to stage and photograph the property for promotional material. As that information becomes more readily available online, predatory behavior is easier to implement as criminals tend to use all the viable and accurate information accurately provided by the sellers. Simply put, the bad guys lift the real information but falsely promote the property as a rental and make themselves the main contact for the negotiations.

To the untrained eye, determining a rental scam is hard as the culprits promoting the transaction take the time to build an authentic looking teaser ad. As with the recent case of the Bontz property, criminals created email account names similar to the actual seller, making it even more challenging for unknowing tenants to distinguish fact from fiction. The 'rental' ad will include photos lifted from the real MLS advertisement and the written description from the original ad. All this information is then manipulated to lure in the unsuspecting bait and the newly created ads will feature keywords such as “huge discounts" and "desperate to rent."

Tips To Avoid Rental Scams

Unfortunately renters and homeowners alike will get very little help from listing services featuring fraudulent ads, so the old adage 'buyer beware' must be implemented as a defense. Potential renters should implore the following behaviors to minimize their risk of being scammed:

• Consider the Source: Since Craigslist is known as a hub of activity for rental scams, each rental ad needs to be taken with a grain of salt until the landlord can prove the legitimacy.
• Too Good To Be True: If a rental property is too good to be true, chances are it is not real so act cautiously.
• See For Yourself: While securing a rental online and without visiting a property may seem convenient, that step is crucial to forcing the hand of the perpetrator. Demanding a face-to-face meeting and a walk-through will automatically scare the criminals off as they cannot deliver those actions.
• Avoid Cash and Wire Transfers: Those two methods of payment are the preferred choice of criminals as once complete, naughty folks will literally take the money and run.
• Do Not be Blinded By Faith: For the devout, religious beliefs are important, but the reality is there is no place for them in business transactions. Cassandra was unscrupulously manipulated as the scam artist played on her relationship with God as a way to 'bond' and then steal her money.
• Don't Believe The Hype: In Cassandra's case the criminal claimed to be a missionary who had to rush off to Spain to attend to their work. Legitimate landlords tend not to show their anxiety as those personal problems have no place in real business. Any ads promoting desperation are used to elicit sympathy and manipulate the ignorant.

Rental scams tend not to focus on the home sellers so their role in preventing scams is minimal. If however, a homeowner does discover a fraudulent listing for their home there are some proactive measures they can take. Letting neighbors know about the false ad is one trick as they will then keep a watchful eye on the property to ensure their own safety. Additionally, homeowners may opt to place a free advertisement announcing that the other ad is a scam. Finally, concerned homeowners can alert the policy in regards to fake ads as they may already be aware of the activity and may require the assistance of civilians to bust a ring.