who are looking for a lease online that there is a lot of fraud out there.
Today a REALTOR called to ask me about a home his client was interested it that I had listed for lease last month. Tracing the links lead him to someone in the UK who had it posted for lease. He looked on MLS and found me whom he thought could notify the current tenants and/or owners that something was wrong and he also emailed the Web site on which it was posted to let them know. Thank you Don.
Actually, the tenants had complained to me that they were having a problem with people ringing their doorbell and asking about leasing the house. A Google search showed an number of ads that were illegitamite.
If you are posting leases on line, Google the address periodically so you can monitor the fraudulent ads and get them removed.
When shopping for a home to lease, be careful and make sure the party you are contacting is the party who has the authority to lease the house. My guess is the scam involves the leesee providing a deposit. Which reminds me of a story from about 12 years ago when my daughter was in college in Denton and trying to lease an apartment. She and her roommate turned over a cash deposit to a man who met them at the property and showed it to them. The proper leasing office had no idea who he was. Lesson learned. A ligitimate party will have a lease application, be in a leasing office, have a business card or be the rightful owner and you can look online at tax records to confirm that.
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