Richard Mize|Oklahoman
Renters, beware: You could be hit with a scam when looking for a house, thanks to the incredibly tight housing market.
Scammers fool renters by posting property listings they don’t own as rent houses — on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace or elsewhere — then collect a security deposit from someone who wants to live in the home, then disappear.
A Realtor told this tale in a Facebook group:
"I was showing my listing this afternoon to some potential buyers and 2 different people showed up to look in the windows. They received the message below from some scammer who set up a fake account on different platforms under my seller's name. I also heard from two other people who contacted me telling me they had corresponded with the person and they thought his urgency seemed a little scammy. I’ve contacted the police but am waiting to hear back from them."
Here's the scammer's text message, complete with awkward phrasing and punctuation:
"The for sale sign is still in the yard because am not in town but you have nothing to worry about, is noting, that was why I decided to handle the rental process myself.
"The house is ready to be moved in as soon as possible, I decided to rent it out because of my wife and we are going to spend more time here in Texas,about 3 years due to my job promotion as the new general manager, The address is (a link) I want you to drive down to the house asap,you can peep through the window for better view of the inside and make sure you look around so you can se how the property is been taken good care of,This is not about the money at all, but a tenant who will take good care of the house."
The Realtor who smelled the fishiness going on continued:
"Have you heard about this scam? A friend in my office said she had heard about it going on in California. The scammer has the 'potential tenant' sign paperwork, give SSN (Social Security number), and send over money. Just thought I should share with this group!"
Glen Cosper, an agent with Keller Williams and government affairs chairman for the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors, put the word out formally, taking it from social media to the media. He'd gotten close to the smell himself.
“A prospective tenant was in front of the house looking at my sign,” he said. “I’d just put it on the market the day before. He’d seen it for rent on Craigslist for $600. He thought that was suspiciously low.”
Renters should always call the Realtor if they see a for-sale sign in the yard of a listed rental, Cosper said. Compare the rent rate with comparable properties for rent. And, he said, Google the address: If it's listed for sale, the rental listing is probably fake.
Cosper urged people who have lost money in a fake rental scheme to file a police report or a complaint through the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Unit.
Here are a few more sordid tales from Realtors in the Facebook group:
• "I had a rental house that people were told to go look at and to send 6 months rent up front and they could move in. Unfortunately, there was still someone living there for 2 more weeks, AND being military, he almost met them at his back door with a weapon!"
• "I had a listing that some dude was trying to rent out. Scammed one person out of a deposit and almost another. Then, on the SAME listing, another dude tried to pull a different kind of scam involving sending me a bogus check and having me pay a portion of it back to a relative. Long story. I contacted the person on the check and her husband called me back with the sheriff on the line and asking me questions like they thought I was the scammer. That was a fun transaction."
• "I’ve never had any luck with police doing anything about situations like these. They happen all the time. I put a sign on the front door and window stating it’s not for rent. It’s for sale!! Please do not sign anything or send money to anyone."
• "Happened to one of my listings. The guy had 'lost his voice and could only text.' "
Sheesh. Be careful out there, y'all.
Real Estate Editor Richard Mize edits The Oklahoman’s Real Estate section, and covers housing, construction, commercial real estate, and related topics for the newspaper and Oklahoman.com. Contact him atrmize@oklahoman.com. Please support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a subscription athttp://subscribe.oklahoman.com.
