How 2 protect yourself from being scammed?

Question

Gordon Cuffe · Answer

You can also give the address to a realtor or property manager and they can check public records to verify ownership before you hand over money to anybody.

Stephen Haynes · Answer

If the photos are watermarked call the phone number in the watermark not the one in the add. Also if they are managed by a property manager make sure it is also listed on there website. There have been a lot of scams out there in the last couple of weeks. two of our listings were someone tried to scam people through and luckily the prospective targets called the phone number on the watermark. Also if the rents are way lower than the area would normally rent for then it is most likely a scam and you should do a little more do dilligence.

Best Of Luck,

Stephen

Gail K. · Answer

Avoid those who tell you to send funds before they will show you the property (one scammer tried this with one of my rentals when I pretended to be an interested applicant) or claim to live far away and will simply send you a key after you send the deposit without being able to view the property beforehand.

If you are coming from another part of the country and cannot view the property beforehand (for example, you're in the military and are being restationed), see if you can have a fellow active duty person view it for you.

As others have mentioned, many property records are now online so you can verify if dealing with a private owner you are actually dealing with the person who owns the property and not some scammer.

Zillow, Trulia, Hotpads don't seem to have as many problems with scammers as Craigslist.

Gail

Sean Smith · Answer

If the landlord seems too eager to rent to you (example: not checking credit) it is likely a scam. Stay safe out there!

Lora P. · Answer

Also, don't put down a deposit or pay rent without going inside the property for a showing.

Frankie Felix · Answer

Check the address, if you're renting an apartment most apartment complexes have signage, use that number.. you can also check the address for other listings such as is it for sale and so on I know it's more work.. but hey better safe then sorry

Josh July · Answer

Thank you all. I'm glad I asked, thanks  again to all the BiggerPockets members for helping me stay safe...

How 2 protect yourself from being scammed?

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