Scammers Target Landlords

Everywhere you turn there are scammers lurking, waiting to take your hard earned money. Most often we hear of these scammers stealing people’s identities or posing as a charity looking to get your credit card for a “tax deductible donation.”

But even landlords are being scammed. Intelligent people who might be desperate in this down economy are falling victim so be on the lookout for anything that sounds suspicious. You know the phrase…if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably a scam.

Out in California the search is on for a woman posing as a tenant who responds to “room for rent” ads. She sees the room, wants to put a $200 deposit to save the room, but pulls out a blank check for $800 supposedly from her past landlord. The unsuspecting landlord takes the woman to the bank, deposits the check, then withdraws the $600 extra and hands it over.

Needless to say, the woman “tenant” never moves in and the bank realizes too late that the check was fake, thus leaving trusting landlords with a $600 loss.

Another common scam begins when landlords advertise their listings on CraigsList.org or any other real estate listing site. Sure, many landlords have had good luck renting rooms or properties using this method because your rental ad can reach thousands of people in your local area. But unsuspecting landlords can easily be scammed by overseas scammers who claim they want to rent a room.

These scammers begin their scam via email, asking for details about the room and when it will be available. Through the course of many emails and even some phone calls, the “tenant” will send a check or money order made out to a larger dollar amount than necessary, claiming it was a mistake. They then want you to deposit the check into your bank and withdraw the overage and send it back to them. Once again, the unsuspecting landlord who deposits the check loses sometimes thousands of dollars.

FullDisclosureFinance.com has a very detailed post relaying their exact email exchange and many commentors have left bogus email addresses to watch out for. And even though the post was dated in 2008, beware that scammers will often tweak their emails or the whole process to make it seem more believable.

In other words, don’t think this scam disappeared just because of the 2008 date stamp on the post.

Another scammer in Arizona conned 7 landlords by asking to rent properties for no money down or by using bad checks earlier this year.

These scams aren’t limited to North America, either. Just last month a scammer in England was convicted of 11 counts of fraud by scamming landlords using false identities, much like the movie, “Catch Me If You Can.”

To avoid being the subject of a scam, take care to do a thorough background and employment check. If the “tenant” is too cautious about giving out information such as moving date, let that serve as a red flag.

And if anyone asks you to cash a check for them, ALWAYS SAY NO. Better safe than sorry.