Avoiding Rental Scams

The convenience of shopping online brings with it a heightened risk of scams and fraud. You should always be mindful and vigilant before providing anyone your personal information or sending payment of any kind.

We work hard to provide our users with a convenient and reliable source of rental listings and roommate profiles, but fraudsters are also working to scam users. When we work together, we can take steps to make our online marketplaces the safest they can be. Be aware we do not participate in any rental transactions and cannot refund your money if you are scammed.

While we work continuously to ensure that you have a positive experience using our site, we cannot guarantee that our sites are 100% free from false or fraudulent listings.

What We Do

• While no screening system is perfect, we do scan our listings for high risk or fraudulent listings and pursue legal action where proper;
• Immediately review and remove listings that are reported as suspicious, when appropriate;
• Fully and transparently support law enforcement investigations of listings fraud and Independently investigate suspicious and fraudulent listings and pursue legal action where proper.

What We Ask You to Do

1. Look out for scams. Here are some of the most common red flags:

• Rent offered below market. Scammers know that innocent renters will be less cautious if they are motivated to close quickly on a deal so they don’t lose out on something too good to be true.
• Request to wire money. Legitimate landlords do not ask renters to wire money to any account, especially an account located abroad. Nor do they ask for money by Western Union, MoneyGram or other money transfer service.
• Request to use another listing service or escrow account to transfer money. Scammers may impersonate legitimate listings services, like AirBnB or HomeAway, or request that money is sent to an escrow account to make renters believe they are dealing with a legitimate entity.
• Claim of affiliation with us. Scammers may impersonate our site to make it seem like we participate in the lease transaction or transfer of funds. We do not participate in any transactions between landlords and renters, and we will never ask you for money to use our site or any of our services.
• Dramatic landlord story. The landlord has received a job assignment abroad and must rent the unit ASAP. You are invited to drive by the building, but no one can show it to you because everyone is already living abroad. And you need to commit in the next 24 hours because dozens of people are waiting to sign the lease. A legitimate landlord will meet you in person and allow you to tour the property before asking for a deposit to secure the rental.
• Can’t or won’t meet in person. For whatever reason, the landlord/agent refuses to meet you in person at the property. They may even send you an access code to unlock an electronic lockbox to gain entry by yourself to the house, condo or apartment you are looking to rent.

2. Report scams immediately and with as much detail as possible (including copies of the communications with the scammer and money transfer details) to:

• Contact us by marking the listing as Suspicious on the site and calling 877-895-1234 or emailing offcampus@costar.com
• Your local police department
• The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
• The Federal Trade Commission
• If you sent money by Western Union or Money Gram, those vendors’ customer service departments may be able to stop the transfer:
  • Western Union Complaint Procedure
  • MoneyGram Complaint Procedure

3. Review these real life example of rental listing scams and make sure it doesn’t happen to you:

Fake owner allegedly located in the UK provides overly detailed story on why the unit is available and why she does not live in the U.S.:

Landlord who cannot deal face to face because he lives in the UK says Airbnb agent will hold a refundable deposit and give renter an opportunity to inspect the apartment:

A word of caution regarding Craigslist Apartment listing scams from the MGH Police Department:

The number of fake rental scams on Craigslist and other online classifieds continues to grow, with new aliases appearing daily. But while the names may change, the methods are always the same, with scammers attempting to steal your money and your identity. They use yahoo, ymail, rocketmail, fastermail, live, hotmail and gmail, and they also post ads under anonymous craigslist addresses. They frequently change their aliases. They use photos stolen from other property advertisements or from home furnishing catalogues or hotel websites. They use fake names, often stolen from Facebook profiles or networking sites. Often they assume the identities of previous victims. What they all have in common is that sooner or later you get a request to transfer funds via Western Union, Moneygram or some other wire service. Never, under any circumstances, wire money at the request of any prospective “landlord” via Western Union, Moneygram or any other wire service. Even if they tell you to wire the funds to a friend or relative’s name “to be safe.” Never send a scan of your passport or other id. Thieves will use your identity to scam others.

Should you feel that you are the victim of a scam, we recommend that you take the following actions:

• Report the incident to your local law enforcement agency.
• If you are affiliated with the Massachusetts General Hospital or the MGH Institute of Health Professions, please contact MGH Police &Security.
• Contact major credit reporting bureaus and request a fraud alert be placed on your account. View more information about placing a fraud alert.
• File a claim with The Internet Crime Complaint Center.
• Review the Federal Trade Commission’s web page concerning Identity Theft.