How To Spot Craigslist Rental Scams To Avoid

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1. Stephanie

   August 28, 2021

   For people looking in the greater Seattle area, I just had yet another bad experience with another scammer, email received from Houses Keeper , and text messages from (206) 208-3005 from a guy calling himself Jacob.

   When I was looking last May/June, it was difficult to find anything through any means because there were so few properties becoming available and/or landlords/property managers weren’t even allowed to have showings. I had started looking on Craigslist, because I myself had used it to list and rent my sub-basement studio apartment a number of years. It appalled me at the blatant attempts to defraud people, and I was lucky that I was pretty good at spotting them immediately. I had an elderly friend who was desperately looking for something in a much lower range, and thank goodness she had gotten the willies by something a scammer did, just before she was leaving my house to go meet this person to look at a studio she found on Craigslist. She showed me the string of text messages, and I told her to send him this text, “It just occurred to me that I should have asked you to provide documentation from the property/homeowner that you are authorized to act on their behalf?” Mind you, this scammer had been blowing up her phone with text messages all day, ensuring she was going to meet him, and to make sure she brought the $500 deposit in cash. She just didn’t know what warning signs to look for. I helped her avoid a couple more situations like this. Then these scammers started showing up on Zillow.

   So this new scammer I interacted with yesterday/today has at least one property listed on Craigslist under short-term/temp housing in West Seattle, on the waterfront. It’s described as a carriage house, and is listed for $1000/month inc. all utilities. Normally, that price would have set off red flags, but the large 8-lane bridge which is usually the primary way to access West Seattle (which is practically an island), was shut down last year due it being found in extremely dangerous condition, and in order to drive out of W Seattle, it’s a serious task and I can imagine has been adding at least 1.5 hours commuting time for people who work in the downtown Seattle or north of Seattle areas. Because of this, and the pandemic resurging with the delta variant in our area, I figured the homeowners may have lowered the monthly cost just to get someone in there. I sent an email with my phone number from my email account (vs through Craigslist which would hide my email address), and a few hours later got a text message that just said “Hello, This is me Jacob from Craigslist”. Ok, who is Jacob? There were no names in the listing, and how odd that someone would assume I had only responded to one listing? I asked, “For which listing are you referring to?” Then another strange response, “Thanks for your interest, the unit…for $1000/month. What’s your email address to send you all the necessary details about the property”. Another red flag, since he should have had my email address, as I explained above, and obviously he had read through it to find my phone number at the bottom. Also, I had responded to 3 listings that day which were all $1000/month, so I asked him again, which property, then a few minutes later decided to send my email address just to see what his version of the scam looked like. A couple hours later I looked at the email, and that’s when I became more suspicious, because it stated things like house cleaning every two weeks would be included, and to return the property booking request form to him with my payment information included because my “booking” wouldn’t be confirmed until payment was received. BLARING RED FLAG. I could see if this had been an inquiry I made through AirBNB, but it was for short-term housing and not a vacation rental. He did include the property address, so I was able to pull up the tax records to find out who the current owners are, no surprise, no one named Jacob. I didn’t even open the attachment because first he had to pass the next test, so I responded to his text message, “Can you please email me the appropriate documentation from the property owner stating that you are authorized to act as their representative on their behalf?” He responded, sure I will get that to you. That was late this morning, and it is now 9:21PM and haven’t received anything, or heard back at all. If he was a legitimate property manager, he would have had that immediately available. So just be aware everyone, even on other websites, con artists, aka scammers, are always evolving and becoming more sophisticated as soon as the public starts posting information online and comparing notes. NOTE: I had found a couple phone numbers online for the person listed on as the property owner on the county tax assessors website, and left voicemails explaining that I wanted to confirm that this person was acting upon their authorization. The owners just texted me back, confirming this guy is a scam artist, they have the carriage house listed on vrbo only.

   Here are the most important things that should happen before you hand any money over to anyone;
   1. Ask if they are the owner of the property, or AUTHORIZED to act on behalf of the owner, even with sublets…and get owner name(s), phone, mailing address and email address, and the exact rental property address, and of course a copy of the signed/dated authorization.
   2. Go to your county tax assessor’s website and look up the current owner by the address (a unit number is especially important if it is a condominium), and make sure it matches what’s on the authorization or the name of the person representing themselves as the owner. If anything looks suspicious, contact the owner directly.
   3. Don’t ever hand over cash. At least get a money order (so you have proof of payment) if you don’t have any other means (debit/credit card), and ALWAYS get a receipt stating what the funds were for and who you gave them to, and don’t hand over a penny until you have physically inspected the unit, did the steps above, and only pay an application fee when you submit the application. I’m going to going to go into more details that will further protect you further, so you know your basic rights and how to further protect yourself:
   4. Look up your State’s tenant-landlord laws for the legally allowed deposits/fees allowed (including the definitions between what a deposit and a fee are). In Washington, anything defined as a deposit on a pre-rental or rental agreement has to be deposited into a separate account from the landlord’s day to day business account (a Trust account). Reading through the actual legal codes can be tedious, so try to find a website from a local non-profit in your city/State that is easier to navigate.
   5. Look up the Federally required language that any application/form, etc., has to have stated if it used to collect your personally identifiable information and how your information will be used (Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection Act). There are 2 sets of language between credit and criminal history checks, and they have to be stated separately, so you should have to sign under each type of consent. If these aren’t included, the application isn’t legally compliant, and at a minimum, a major sign that your prospective landlord knows nothing about landlord-tenant and federal laws (which could make you miserable later on), and at the extreme, when there are other red flags, a scammer. Any property owner/manager will have to use a 3rd party to do their credit/criminal checks, and these agencies won’t even accept emails or forms that are missing these pieces, because they can be held criminally and civilly liable. If the application doesn’t meet the State and Federal requirements, just walk away.
   6. If you live in a State where it is legally allowed for a landlord/property manger to request a holding deposit (e.g., if they have high demand) while they process your application, they have to provide you a mutually signed agreement (contract) where a). if your application is denied, your deposit will be returned within so many days, in which form (usually a check), and where you want them to mail the refund, and b). if your application is accepted, how the holding deposit will be applied to the move-in costs in some other way. Both you and the landlord/property manager should sign the agreement…and for every agreement you submit/sign, etc., always get an original “wet-ink” copy, meaning contracts/agreements should be signed by both parties in duplicate, and check both copies before signing to make sure the important items like dollar amounts, dates, etc., all match up, and then you keep one set, and the landlord keeps another, this goes for lease/rental agreements too. Always bring a pad of paper with you, so if the other party doesn’t have a pre-prepared receipt or agreement, you can hand-write out the receipt/agreement, and take a picture of it with your phone so there isn’t a question as to when both parties signed it. Always get a receipt signed/dated by the person you hand over any payment to in person. If you send your payments through an online portal, print a copy of the transaction for your records. I had a tenant who would send me his rent payments via PayPal, and I still provided him with a written/signed receipt with the date I received the payment.

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2. Jason

   September 16, 2021

   Another way I use, is I copy a couple of sentences and then Google them. Often you’ll see the same add in several different cities, word for word.

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3. Sandy

   June 12, 2022

   2 replies about my inquiries, they answer my questions and then they want my personal email to communicate further.. I’m hesitant.. is there a valid reason for my email address or is this an alert to avoid.. may be a scam?

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4. Alexis

   July 12, 2022

   I’ve run into a lot of these listed, and didn’t fall for them. Once I got the badly written e-mail, I quickly moved on. My rule is if they don’t give a phone number in the ad, it’s fake, move on. No legitimate renter wants to communicate only through e-mail.

   For the record, I actually DID personally know a missionary family that was renting their house out. They used a realtor to take care of all the business. AND, while the realtor handled everything from listing it to taking payments, the couple did take the time to at least meet the renters before leaving town. They even had dinner with them once before they left and even introduced them to some of the neighbors that they had known for years.

   So, that’s how a legitimate out-of-town landlord works.

   BUT, I ran into a NEW scam this week. It was a Craigslist ad for a house in an area that I knew of. It was a good deal. It wasn’t too good to be true, ($1,300/month, with a $1,000 deposit) but it was still a good deal so we were excited.

   There was a phone number in the ad, and so I called him. We talked for about 20 minutes, he was very heavily accented so it was hard to communicate, but he asked all the right questions. Who would be living there, and what our previous rental history looked like. He talked of deposit, and mentioned he would be doing criminal and background checks.

   It all sounded good. Because of the communication difficulty with his accent, we probably didn’t ask enough questions. We mainly just wanted to see the house. So, we arranged to go by there at all 11 am the next day. Red flags we should have picked up on but didn’t:

   1. He said we were the first to call. The ad had been up for 9 days, and it was a beautiful place, in a desirable neighborhood for a good (but not TOO good) price. How were we the first to even call?

   2. He then turned around and said it was “first-come first-served,” so we had to act quickly. He could hold the house until at least our appointment at 11 am the next day. So, now, there is a huge rush, when that ad has been sitting without so much as a single bite for 9 days?

   3. He talked to us for 20 minutes, and he didn’t even mention showing it, until I brought it up. If I hadn’t mentioned it, would he have offered?

   He said he wouldn’t be there, it was a self-tour. I know this is common post-COVID, so we didn’t think this was a big deal.

   3. He said he would send us an e-mail with the full details of how to get into the house without him there, so he wanted our full names and e-mail addresses. We gave him that by text, and we never got any e-mails. I texted him a couple of times asking about the e-mails, and didn’t get a response.

   4. The next day, he wanted us to call him when we were on our way. I thought this was strange, because if he wasn’t going to be there, what did it matter? It made me wonder if he was actually going to be there, so I texted him to ask that. He defensively texted back, “I told you I would be at my place of work.” I thought that was a little rude. But, whatever. So, we did call him as he had asked. That’s when things got weird.

   4. When we got there, there was a FOR LEASE sign in the yard for a realty company. We just figured that was the company he was also working with.

   There was a coded lock on the door, and we called him and told him we were at the door, and could he send us a code.

   5. He acted confused when we told him we were at the house, and he started talking in circles. We had to repeat ourselves several times. I’ve stayed at Airbnb’s that have locks like that, and it’s super easy to remotely reset the code from a computer. So, he could have just given us the current code, and reset it as soon we left.

   But, he said that he was going to send us a link to a website (Rently.com) where we’d have to register for a code. The link came, and the registration form asked me for my name and phone number, and to create a password. I did that, AND THEN…

   5. A WINDOW ON THE RENTLY REGISTRATION FORM POPPED UP. It asked, “Did you find this house on Craigslist or Facebook?” I clicked yes, and it said, “None of our houses are advertised on Facebook or Craigslist. You are dealing with a scammer.”

   I REALLY wanted the house, so I didn’t want to believe it, and as I was standing in the driveway, trying to figure out what to do about the notification, he called. I read him the notification. He got defensive and said that he had told me (he hadn’t), that he hadn’t been able to get a renter, so he took it upon himself to advertise on Craigslist.

   Then, he turned it around on me, and said that he had wanted me to stay on the phone with him while I registered so he could tell me how to get around that notification. He accused me of hanging up on him, (I didn’t. I told him I would call him back. The registration form asked for a phone number, and I couldn’t remember mine, because I had just gotten a new one. I didn’t want him breathing down my neck while I searched for my number).

   In the moment, I wanted the house bad enough that I would have liked to believe about the notification. But, now my phone was locked out of the app. He was now frustrated with me for supposedly hanging up on him, and so I apologized.

   So, he asked if my co-renter could sign up for the app. So, he sent her the link. She messed with the app and couldn’t get it to work for about 20 minutes.

   6. While we messed around with the app, we were also wandering around the yard, and looking in through the windows. The deck looked nicer than in the photos, and one of the rooms had had carpet, but in real life, now had beautiful wood floors. (Old photos).

   Our window peeking was making us more and more excited, and so we kept pushing on. The “landlord” now had my co-renter download the app from the app store, and try to register. It kept locking her out, and he would text her new links and he generated a password for her, none of which would work. He asked us what phone provider we had, because it should work. (again, rude).

   Finally, after about 40 minutes of sitting in the driveway trying to get in, and looking through the windows, and trying to get the app to work, we ran out of time. I told him, “The app clearly isn’t working. Can you just give us your code to unlock the door? I have to get to work soon.”

   He apologized and asked if we would come back after work. This wouldn’t work with our schedule, so eventually, we set an appointment for the next day. He said if we would come back tomorrow at 10 and he would make sure to be there and he would let us in.

   Disappointed, we left.

   My gut instinct was kicking in by now, so I took a photo of the sign in the yard. Then we went home. Once I got home, I looked up the website for the realtor advertised in the yard. I found the listing for the house, which was for $2,000 (He was advertising for $1,300, which made it a good deal, but not excellent).

   The listing did mention doing a self-guided tour through the Rently app. I clicked on the Rently app, and tried to put in our phone numbers, and it had us already in there, so I guess that part was legitimate. But, here’s the thing. There was a disclaimer at the bottom of the app that said:

   “**SCAM ALERT: This house does not advertise on Craigslist. If you found it on Craigslist, it is a scam.**

   Once I saw that, all the red flags I had been ignoring started to fall into place, and I was ready to accept that it was a scam. I called the actual realty company, and told them what had happened, and gave them his name and number, and flagged the ad on Craigslist.

   Interestingly enough, our appointment time for the next day came and went and I didn’t hear anything from him.

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5. Russell Goff

   December 5, 2022

   I am looking for shared housing on Craigslist and I avoid (and flag) any ad that asks me to provide my phone number. These ads universally post one (and usually only one) “too good to be true” photo (lifted from another source), ask far below the going rate (often hundreds of dollars less), and often are far too friendly and personable (“good luck with your search,” “God bless,” heart and prayer emojis, etc etc etc). It’s a blatant attempt at identity theft and calling attention to the scam on Craigslist does no good because your own ad will be flagged in return and Craigslist won’t do anything about it anyway.

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6. Jaydee

   February 21, 2023

   You need to provide me your information: full name (legal name that I will need for the lease agreement), mailing address (street, number, city and postal code) where you want to receive the keys and documents, cell phone number, move-in date and length of the lease agreement (e.g. 6 months or 1 year rental contract with option of renewal). The lease agreement will be a standard one from the Canadian government.
   – Avison Young will send you a notification(via email) with the transaction details and necessary documents for the rental agreement. According to the real estate laws from Canada they will also provide you with the terms and conditions of their company that you can accept or NOT in order to move forward with the payment process.
   – If you decide to move forward with the payment process you need to send the amount of 2700$ (first month of rent from contract -1800$ + damage deposit -900$ – refundable in the last month of rent from contract) following the payment instructions provided to you
   – Avison Young will check the payment confirmation and I will start the shipping procedure through UPS Air Cargo.
   – You will receive the package (keys, apartment documents and lease agreement) in 3-5 business days. After the keys will be delivered to your address you will have 5 business days (inspection time) to check the apartment. The inspection time will start from the moment you will be at the building.
   – If you decide to keep the apartment you just need to sign the lease agreement and send a copy of the lease agreement with your signature to Avison Young. If you don’t want to keep the apartment you will receive a full payment refund including any payment fee.

   I NEED TO BE SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS CLEAR FOR YOU SO PLEASE READ CAREFULLY ALL THE STEPS OF THE TRANSACTION BECAUSE I CAN NOT CHANGE THEIR TERMS AND CONDITIONS. ALSO I WILL PAY FOR THE COMMISSION AND DELIVERY FEES AND JUST IN CASE YOU HAVE SECOND THOUGHTS AFTER YOU AGREE THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FROM AVISON YOUNG. I WILL NOT RECEIVE A REFUND FROM AVISON YOUNG!
   PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AMOUNT YOU WILL SEND TO AVISON YOUNG IS A GUARANTEE DEPOSIT THAT YOU HAVE THE FUNDS AVAILABLE AND IT CAN NOT BE RELEASED WITHOUT YOUR APPROVAL. I CAN RECEIVE THE FUNDS JUST AFTER AVISON YOUNG WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THE LEASE AGREEMENT WITH YOUR SIGNATURE.

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7. Jaydee

   February 21, 2023

   He even called me to tell me that his wife and he had decided they decided to rent it to us, only to send me this after…

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8. Brianna

   February 24, 2023

   I thought it was too good to be true, and it was.

   Thanks to your email,I have decided to rent the house because we are going to spend more time here in (NEW MEXICO) my family and I will be here for about 5-6 years due to the nature of my job. Let me start by introducing myself, I am EVANGELIST MAXWELL and I must confess I am very new in this landlord business. However, I own the house located at (2611 Granite Way, Sacramento, CA 95821)Home, the initial plan was to sell the house but sometimes the Realtor inflates the price and it takes longer to sell, because of this reason we have decided to rent out the house to a responsible tenant that can take very good care of the property as we are not after the money, we want it to be clean and tidy at all time. Pets are allowed as long as they are not destructive. The rent is $910 and security deposit is $1,700 and a pet deposit of $300 and move in to the home asap, free to text me here (575) 286-4212 i will be happy to get back to you anytime and i also check my email often so feel free to contact me via email or text message for any further inquiries.You can drive-by to view the outside and neighborhood of the house and get back to me asap.

   DETAILS ABOUT THE HOUSE.
   ADDRESS: (2611 Granite Way, Sacramento, CA 95821)
   Number of bedrooms:2
   Number of bathrooms:1
   Rental price: $910 per month and security Deposit is $1,700 (Security Deposit is Refundable) Utilities included in monthly rent Pets Welcome.

   ****RENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE*****

   If you are really interested in renting my home then answer the rental application questions below.
   Name (First name/ Middle name/Surname ) : __________?
   Phone numbers (home,cell and office line ) # :__________?
   Email Address :___________?
   Picture of yourself if possible :_________?
   Drivers License/State ID :___________?
   Marital Status:__________?
   How many proposed occupants :__________?
   List all in addition to yourself including approx age :__________?
   Present Address :__________?
   Will you have pets :__________?
   Please describe Breed, size :__________?
   Personality of pet :__________?
   Preferred move in date :__________?
   Intended length of lease:__________?
   Do you agree to pay the payment before you move in:__________?
   If you are asked to make a down payment to secure the house and take it off the market today, How much will you be able to pay:__________?
   Length of previous tenancy :__________?
   Present occupation :__________?
   Are you a section 8 applicant? Do you work late night :__________?
   Do you smoke :__________?
   Do you drink :__________?
   Credit Score :__________?
   Monthly Income :__________?

   I ___________________, CERTIFY that answers given herein are true and complete to the best of my knowledge. I authorize investigation of all statements contained in this application for tenant screening as may be necessary in arriving at a tenant decision. I understand that the landlord may terminate any rental agreement entered into for any misrepresentation made above.I will be looking forward to hearing back from you with all this detail, so that i can have them in my file in case of issuing your rent payment receipt to you and for contacting you. Your quick response will be highly appreciated, so that we can discuss on how to get the documents and the keys of my property to you via Express Delivery Services.free to text me here (575) 286-4212 i will be happy to get back to you anytime

   EVANGELIST, MAXWELL BARNUM

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9. Rey D

   October 14, 2023

   Reagan Tate at evengoodblakeley126@gmail.com is a Craigslist SCAMMER. WATCH OUT!

   Jessy at twork0692@gmail.com, is a Craigslist SCAMMER. WATCH OUT!

   LIST OF FAKE NAMED SCAMMERS ON CRAIGSLIST:
   Anne Dixson
   Jordan Harrington
   I will post more as I find them.

   One IMPORTANT TIP:
   These SCAMMERS WONT call you. They ONLY TEXT you. Big Red Flag!! They will not answer their phone numbers or emails. You only get voice-mail that is NEVER returned. They ask for up front Application fees and promise to then send you an address. Many provide an Address, but it’s NOT their property or Owner does NOT know who these names or people are.

   If they can’t CALL you, ITS A SCAM! If they WONT meet you at the Rental property to verify who they are, ITS A SCAM.

   One Great way to verify criminals, ask for their Drivers License or State ID. Big time criminals won’t create fake IDs to steal Application fees less than $30 – $50. So, an honest manager or landlord will verify who they work for or show you a valid State ID.

   Craigslist and PayPal will shut down Criminal Activity and Schemes. REPORT FAKE ADS. Give PayPal and Craigslist and any other form of online payment method Companies, like Zelle, their names and phone numbers and emails they use. Like the Author of this article said, let’s all be safe and help each other by weeding out FAKE ADS and Schemes to steal money.
   Don’t give a dime, until you can verify who people are. Rental Agencies can be found online. Private Owner’s property information can be found with Public Records with your Local County Records. Many of Government websites. Is sad that these SCAMMERS make it hard for honest home owners who want to rent their rooms online. Wish online sites would require background checks and a fee that owners and landlords could get back once their rooms or homes are rented. This would eliminate SCAMS.

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10. Carol robinson

    May 3, 2024

    Iam looking for a room, or house to rent. But my budget is low $500 a month Iam 73 and have a cat. I would take very good care of what ever I rented. I’ve never had to do anything like this before, so Iam so confused as to what Iam doing. I had a home for 40 years. In Hyattsville Maryland until I sold it after my whole world fell apart, first my husband then my brother, then my twin sister. Passed all around the same time. It’s a long story, so if there is anyone that can help me, I would be most greatful. My phone is 667-701/5346. Iam looking for anything in the Maryland area. Right now I live in Clinton md. Thank you, Carolyn.

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