Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2017 · 824 posts · 1k+ votes
Hi all -- I recently rented a property I own, and a tenant I denied (including denial letter) asked me if they could still see the property. I was a bit puzzled, and it turns out that someone took my post and re-posted (at a cheaper rate) on Craigslist. They have my property address listed, took every picture and description I had up, and created their own post.
My guess is they're trying to scam people by having them provide a "hold" for the property without seeing it, but I'm honestly not sure. I tried flagging on Craigslist but that didn't do anything. What I'm worried about is two-fold -- someone coming after me for a scam they're running using my property address (likely), or physically going to my property that is tenant occupied (perhaps less likely).
Part of me wants to take it to the police, but I don't think much can happen with them. Any ideas?
This happens a lot. It happened to a friend of mine but the scammers broke into the empty apartment, changed the locks and rented it out with a big deposit but low monthly rent. My friend went to check on his apartment and someone is living in it!!! He called the police but now the person living in there is considered a tenant and he's got to evict. What a nightmare. All the above advice is good but don't forget your alarm systems in vacant properties. He normally does but dropped the ball on this one, just this one time, and paid the price.
This happens to us all the time with our listings we have for sale. Some have even used one of our broker's names and created fake business cards. Other than flagging it there isn't much you can do. I have messaged them in the past and played little games with them and then called them out and the post goes away. Best advice is to maybe update any of your advertising for the property and put a note that you are aware there is someone who has copied your property and that you will not require any money upfront before seeing the property and completing an application. This unfortunately is an old scam that people continue to fall for.
Watermark all you photos. You can download and app or software for this and it is very cheap. Once you set it up it is super simple. The scammers cannot remove your watermark. @Catherine Emert makes a great suggestion on put up an note on the front door. "If you saw this on CL do not reply it is a scam" With that said, stop advertising on CL. Facebook and Zillow are the two best for self managing owners. Post in the FB groups for Philly that are real estate and rental specific. You will get tons of leads. Good Luck!
Watermark all you photos. You can download and app or software for this and it is very cheap. Once you set it up it is super simple. The scammers cannot remove your watermark. @Catherine Emert makes a great suggestion on put up an note on the front door. "If you saw this on CL do not reply it is a scam" With that said, stop advertising on CL. Facebook and Zillow are the two best for self managing owners. Post in the FB groups for Philly that are real estate and rental specific. You will get tons of leads. Good Luck!
Great idea! Thanks for that I will start to do it. One thing I should note is I didn't post on CL, only on Zillow/FB...and someone took the pictures and description and created a fake CL post.
This happens a lot. It happened to a friend of mine but the scammers broke into the empty apartment, changed the locks and rented it out with a big deposit but low monthly rent. My friend went to check on his apartment and someone is living in it!!! He called the police but now the person living in there is considered a tenant and he's got to evict. What a nightmare. All the above advice is good but don't forget your alarm systems in vacant properties. He normally does but dropped the ball on this one, just this one time, and paid the price.
@Troy Sheets, I could be wrong but my gut tells me the "tenants" who moved into your friends house are actually the only ones who broke and changed the locks, wrote their own lease and signed the for the fictitious "landlord". It happened to me. It was an all-around scam by the same individuals (fictitious landlord, fictitious lease, fictitious deposit amount, fictitious Etc.). I was lucky however because I was able to get them thrown out and arrested for breaking and entering. Thank you
We see rentals that should be in the $2500-3000 range and they are listed on CL for $5-600 with a call to action right away. Very old scam to "guarantee" the place to a bunch of tenants and then bounce with the holds.
Sad because it targets renters who just want a nice place and often times don't have the budget. I see this happening ALL the time in areas with great school systems.
Few things P*** me off like taking advantage of someone looking to provide a better living for their family.
Unfortunately this is a scam that runs rampant through the rental industry and a large part of the reason why Craigslist has quickly been decimated by more credible competitors (name Facebook) where the poster is required to have a public profile @Joe P.
I will say that @Troy Sheets' and @Marco Anemone's situations sound a bit more extreme, but honestly it's probably just an example where the scammers "won".
If you do go the watermark route as @Tracy Streich mentioned (which is a great idea btw), you have to be mindful about where you're placing the watermark so that it cannot be easily cropped out.
This is one of the reasons we don't put "For Rent" yard signs in C class neighborhoods - we don't want people knowing which units are vacant.
Take the lead photo on the Craigslist ad and write SCAM over it. Now place your own Craigslist ad with this photo. In your ad state that you own the property and it is not for rent and that the other ad on Craig's list is a reported scam. That is what people do in my neck of the woods. At least then you tried to warn the Craig's list folks.
@Joe P. this is happening regularly on Craigslist for a couple years now. The platform chose to remain advertiser free and as a result, they have no money to properly support the site. Ultimately Craigslist is fading into the abyss and scammers are taking advantage of this.
I had someone steal photos of my property last year and post on Craigslist. I flagged it. I contacted Craigslist. I e-mailed their legal department. I had other people flag the post, but it persisted. It took weeks before the listing came down. In the mean time, here is what I did:
- I added my own listing with photos and similar description. I stated in that the other listing was a scam.
- I reported the G-Mail account that the scammer was using to Google. Google (unlike Craigslist) took immediate action to shut down the account.
Going forward my suggestion is add a watermark to all your photos that contains your company name and phone number. Put the watermark in the middle of the picture, so nobody steals it. If someone does use your photo, your phone number is on it, which means people can call you.
Free advertising platforms do not work over time. You need either pay or advertiser support to sustain long term. This is why I actually applaud Zillow for introducing a pay model for listings. It completely removes the scammers. Even Facebook today is getting overrun with scams on car listings. There are automated bots generating postings. I have not seen it for rental listings yet but it is only a matter of time. The scammers will just move to new platforms as less and less people use Craigslist. You always have to keep your guard up.
I like Star Watermark if anyone is looking for an easy to use, pretty inexpensive watermarking app.
To avoid cropping I water mark on corners and at a 45 degree through the middle of the picture. You can pick shading, coloring etc so as not to "ruin" the purpose of the picture.
If you have a sign up at the house, I'd also post a note mentioning your contact info and if that is not the contact info on the listing, then it is not a real listing.
This happens a lot. It happened to a friend of mine but the scammers broke into the empty apartment, changed the locks and rented it out with a big deposit but low monthly rent. My friend went to check on his apartment and someone is living in it!!! He called the police but now the person living in there is considered a tenant and he's got to evict. What a nightmare. All the above advice is good but don't forget your alarm systems in vacant properties. He normally does but dropped the ball on this one, just this one time, and paid the price.
I'm going to bet that they were the scammer. Without a lease with your name in it, it is breaking and entry. Did the tenants have proof of payment to another person for the rent? If so, the police can go after them. Meanwhile the 'tenant' better be paying rent to the real owner.
This happens a lot. It happened to a friend of mine but the scammers broke into the empty apartment, changed the locks and rented it out with a big deposit but low monthly rent. My friend went to check on his apartment and someone is living in it!!! He called the police but now the person living in there is considered a tenant and he's got to evict. What a nightmare. All the above advice is good but don't forget your alarm systems in vacant properties. He normally does but dropped the ball on this one, just this one time, and paid the price.
I'm going to bet that they were the scammer. Without a lease with your name in it, it is breaking and entry. Did the tenants have proof of payment to another person for the rent? If so, the police can go after them. Meanwhile the 'tenant' better be paying rent to the real owner.
I don't have any of those details but I can promise you the police in Philadelphia will not get involved in a landlord tenant dispute. The landlord would have to be able to prove they broke in somehow or prove they aren't tenants, which is impossible to do unless you have them on camera breaking in.