Thank you Steve this is huge. Ther are many scammers out there and it almost happened to a client for one of our rental listings. The tenant called them and the scammer told them to leave the deposit under the front door mat of the property. How crazy is that. Please people do not put yourself in harms way. Contact the agent in person and ask to see a business card.
Via
Steve Mun / San Jose Short Sale Agent (Keller Williams Realty):
I don’t quite know why I am so lucky as to have another listing targeted as a vehicle for a con, but I must be doing something right. Once again, one of my listings has been hijacked, this time on Hotpad. They scammers took my For Sale listing and created another listings as a rental. Check them out below.
FOR SALE
FOR RENT
The way these scams work, the scammers will provide some reason why they cannot meet with the prospective renters in person. If they like what they see online, then they ask for the renters to send the deposit to them at a different location. I was tipped off because a prospective renter called me to ask if this was for sale. I contacted Hotpad and asked them to remove the rental listing.
Here are what I consider to be some clues or red flags that a rental property may really be vehicle for scam:
- You cannot go and see the insider of the property
- The rent is very low compared to the rest of the area
- The landlord cannot meet you in person at the property
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Landlord wants you to send the money out of state or out of the country
But most of all, don’t do business with people with whom you cannot meet in person.
Derrick McQuade
408-6BAYLPG (229574)
111 N. Market Street Suite 300
San Jose, CA 95113
derrick@baylpg.com
www.baylpg.com
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