{"id":29877,"date":"2010-01-18T15:49:21","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T19:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ewmrealestate.com\/blog\/?p=29877"},"modified":"2019-04-23T20:54:56","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T20:54:56","slug":"the-rental-scam-is-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ewmrealestate.com\/blog\/the-rental-scam-is-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rental Scam is back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0A few months ago I blogged about the rental scam that was cropping up in the South Florida, well it seems it back or perhaps it’s a variation of the old one.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) recently put out a consumer alert regarding rental scams.\u00a0 If you suspect a scam, have already been victimized, or know someone who has fallen victim to a scam, please report it to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center <\/a>to help them determine the extent of the problem.<\/p>\n

\u00a0How the scam works.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0First, the scammer will contact the listing agent for the property by either driving by and calling on the sign or sending the listing agent an e-mail.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The e-mail will ask for certain things about the property such as the price, move in costs, etc.\u00a0 Below are some tips when dissecting a rental scam email.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Does the email start out with Sir\/Madam?<\/li>\n
  2. Are there misspellings in the email?<\/li>\n
  3. Are there character mistakes in the email? i.e Hello,my nameis Susie.<\/li>\n
  4. Is there excessive capitalization?<\/li>\n
  5. Does the email reference God, UK, Cashiers Check, Doctor, Nigeria, Reverend, etc.<\/li>\n
  6. Is the email from a free email provider. i.e gmail, yahoo, aol, hotmail.<\/li>\n
  7. Does the email refer to another person or agent?<\/li>\n
  8. Does the email reference wanting to move in site unseen?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If the email has a majority of these in common,\u00a0chances are very good it is a scammer. If you are not sure, it’s best to not reply.<\/p>\n

    The money order\/deposit scam<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Scammers will try to make the victim feel as comfortable as possible.\u00a0 Here is one way they do it.\u00a0 Once the scammer has all the information about the property, they will then do the following:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Advertises the rental(s) on a large free classifieds site and make the\u00a0rental price extremely low.<\/li>\n
    2. The victim finds the ad and wants to rent the property.\u00a0 Because it is priced so low, the\u00a0victim thinks they are getting a good deal and must act right away so they don’t lose this great deal.<\/li>\n
    3. The Victim and the scammer begin communicating via e-mail.<\/li>\n
    4. The Scammer tells the \u00a0victim he is out of the country on business.<\/li>\n
    5. To ensure the victim has the funds, the scammer will \u00a0ask the victim to wire a deposit ($2,000) to any of the victims friends. This is supposed to make the victim feel comfortable with the process because they are wiring the money (deposit) to their own friend.<\/li>\n
    6. The scammer requests a\u00a0copy of the\u00a0receipt to make sure the funds have been transferred to the victim\u2019s friend through MoneyGram.<\/li>\n
    7. With the information on the receipt, the scammer picks up the money and the victim is out the money as well as the rental.\u00a0Money orders alow\u00a0the recipient to pick up the funds anywhere in the world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      How to avoid being victimized:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n