SAN ANTONIO – Con artists are preying on renters who are looking for a place they can afford by posting fake listings and exploiting convenient self-guided tours.
It happened to Vicki King. The house she and her family started moving into was never even for rent.
“My heart just sunk,” she said.
They had found the rental on Craigslist and called the number on the post to see it.
“The guy said, ‘Call me when you get there.’ So we did. And he talked us through opening it,” King said.
She said the man who claimed to be the owner told them they could tour the house on their own. All they had to do was sign into an app.
They could do a self-tour using the owner’s lockbox.
“You just say I want to take a tour now. Yes, unlock the door and click,” she said.
Electronic lockboxes are growing in popularity. Many real estate services use them as a convenience for prospective tenants. But fraudsters are taking advantage and exploiting the technology to create an illusion.
So how does something like this happen?
To find out, we searched for rent houses in San Antonio, looking for prices that seemed too good to be true.
Then, we googled the address to see if that property was listed elsewhere. Within minutes we found dozens of hijacked listings. That means a legitimate real estate listing was copied but altered to include a different contact number.
One suspicious ad said a North Side gated neighborhood home was available for rent for an enticing $1250 a month. But an online search turned up other listings showing that the house was actually for sale for more than $400,000.
The alleged landlord hung up when we called to inquire about the discrepancy.
Another house for rent for $1945 a month also turned up on Craigslist. There it was listed for just $1,000 a month.
When we texted the number, the person said he was the owner and we could see it.
Once at the property, he called and said we could tour the house ourselves. He remained on the line, providing instructions to make an account with Rently, a legitimate service that provides lockboxes for self-guided tours.
Rently did employ security measures, requiring picture ID, facial recognition scans, a credit card and activation of our phone’s location services.
There was even a scam warning page advising that rent for that property was $1945 a month.
However, the imposter had previously mentioned that there was a rent-to-own option for $1945 a month.
The scam warning also said the property manager’s name was Renters Warehouse, whom the imposter claimed to be.
He talked almost constantly, prompting us on how to open what he called his lockbox for his property.
He never asked for the code, but once we received the code from Rently, we could open the box and retrieve the house key.
He asked how we liked the house and said he knew we would love it.
It didn’t take long before the imposter wanted money.
“You pay the security deposit,” he said over the phone. “You pay the rent so you can move in as soon as possible.”
“As you see, the property is vacant, and you have the key in your hand,” he said.
We didn’t pay.
Unfortunately, Vicki and many others in similar situations have.
When we told the imposter that his listing was fraudulent, he responded by text: “That’s not true. Don’t get scammed.”
Neither Renters Warehouse nor Rently is implicated in any wrongdoing or rental fraud.
We contacted the real property manager, Renters Warehouse, and told them about the fake listing.
In an emailed statement, the company “condemns any kind of fraudulent activity and actively mitigates rental listing frauds to protect its customers.”
Rently Chief Operating Officer Andre Sanchez responded.
“Rently takes security very seriously,” Sanchez said. “Our organization has heavily invested in software and people to mitigate and reduce the number of security incidents reported in the Rently platform. Our data shows that our efforts have reduced reported security incidents by 47.5% in the last 5 months. While we are proud of the progress made, it is important for renters to always be vigilant when renting, and we always recommend the following.”
- Never wire money. This is emphasized several times in the Rently App experience, but it is important for renters to understand that they should never wire money to a property manager, especially if the manager uses high-pressure tactics to create a sense of urgency.
- Ignoring Signage/Messaging. If you are asked to ignore on-site signage or ignore app messaging by someone, immediately stop touring and call the company listing the property or the local authorities to report the issue.
- Trust your intuition. If a renter feels they are being scammed, they should stop immediately and call the local authorities.
We have also created several online resources which explain how Rently prevents rental fraud.
https://use.rently.com/blog/rentlys-security-features/
https://use.rently.com/blog/how-rently-prevents-rental-scams/
https://pages.rently.com/es_securityebook_0623_E-Security-Book---Rently-2023.html
The Federal Trade Commission also warns renters to beware of prices that are low for the area, landlords who are unable to meet in person or who tell you to wire money.
Scams can be reported to https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/.