What is an Apartment Rental scam?

This is a fairly common scam involving a fake rental property and/or a fake rental agency. The scammer will post a property for rent or for sale online at an extremely cheap or fairly low price. They might develop a sense of urgency by saying they are taking the first offer only or that they are leaving the country and need to close as soon as possible.

How can you stay safe?

Always tour the location before renting or buying. It isn’t uncommon for a scammer to use an AirBnB to pretend like they own the location. Always do a reverse image search of the pictures posted and check the address location on AirBnB and The White Pages.

Never, under any circumstance, sign any paperwork without actually verifying all information and meeting in person first.