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Comment by defen | Hacker News Reader

What is the end game of a fake listing? Bait and switch? What does the scammer get out of it?

Fill out this application before viewing. Application asks for: Legal Name, Current and past addresses, Phone number, Family Member Names (emergency contacts), SSN # (for credit check), Credit Card # (For application fee)

Basically, everything needed for identity theft

An ex was tricked out of about 900 bucks by one of these.

Person is moving to a new city, needs a place, but doesn't have the time or budget to travel and inspect in person. They play it safe by picking an upstanding, corporate looking listing... all they need to do is make a deposit...

They show up with suitcases to a building that's never heard of them.

A friend's girlfriend was successfully done out of ~$2,000 by sending the scammers a deposit for an apartment she thought she was leasing.

She was in Australia, I think. The apartment was in London. Of course she wanted somewhere to live as soon as she landed, so she had to do it remotely. Bad result.

For anyone who doesn't know, never do that. Get a hotel/hostel/airbnb for the first week, then actually go to places. Never take a place you have not visited.

Also in London, go private rental helps avoid the ridiculous agency fees.

I'm genuinely surprised anyone would take a place completely unseen. Even if you remove the possibility of being scammed like this and assume the place does indeed exist, there's so much potential for creative photography to hide problems. Not to mention noise, bedbugs, broken appliances etc.

Did people do this before the internet? It's amazing how a "corporate" looking website can convince rational people to be incredibly trusting.

So yeah, never do that.

If you're only going to be living there for six months it doesn't really matter.

I once rented a shitty apartment that I knew was shitty and could see was shitty. I needed some place to live right then and there and they weren't asking too much for rent. I wasn't planning on living there more than a year. Ended up living there two years due to medical issues delaying home buying but still don't regret living there at all.

Plus, you reserve hotel rooms sight unseen.

Just touring somewhere isn't going to help, you have to make sure the person who is showing you the apartment owns the apartment, look up real estate records and ask their the landlord's ID. I say this because there is plenty of cases where scammers will break into vacant buildings and "rent" them as long as possible. Heard of a story where a guy was living overseas for a few months and came home to a family living in his house which had been "rented out" by a scammer who broke in and changed the locks.

I believe in some states its not even a matter of saying "Hey this is my house get out" you have to go though eviction processes to remove them as well. What a mess.

Yes, absolutely. Tenantancy is usually established after around 30 days of continued occupancy and once they are tenants, even if they aren't paying rent, you can't legally kick them out without going through the proper legal channels.

There's even been cases of people posing as fake real estate agents to "rent" apartments. If your dealing with a real estate agent then ask for their ID like you would a landlord, and the license number, and look up their real estate license online.

I've seen a scam of the form "the property is in incredibly high demand, we need a deposit to secure a viewing".

"I'm out of town right now, but if you send me the security deposit and first month's rent, I'll mail you the key."

A."security deposit plus first months rent" for an apartment that either doesn't exist or it exists but they don't own it.

Plus all the PII you put on the application is a bonus.

So you pay a "landlord" for an apartment, you show up with a moving truck to collect the keys, and the "landlord" is gone with your money.

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