Fake / Scam Ads scaring away prospective tenants?

Question

I have ran into a problem I did not anticipate. Someone has stolen the photos and description of my online ad and reposted it at a lower price with their contact info. I have flagged every ad I can find but they seem to put up a new one every day or so.

In the future, I will watermark all of my photos - I am thinking add a phone # to all of them? - But what can I do about the current ad when they have already copied the photos? What changes can I make to the current ad that would help?

Nathan Gesner · Answer

There's not much you can do about the current ads.

Consider posting a notice on the rental that warns people of scams and lists your phone number. If possible, tape it to the inside of the door so it's visible from the outside. If that's not possible, tape it to the front door AND tape it in several obvious places inside the unit like on the fridge, bathroom mirrors, etc.

I manage a lot of rentals in a small Wyoming town and scammers used to steal my pictures constantly. When I started watermarking them, the theft completely disappeared.

Ron Gallagher · Answer

This happened to me too. The spammers were too lazy to add images to their fake ad so watermarking the images wouldn't have helped. Sad because craigslist is still the most popular way for people to find rentals in the DC area. I got an angry phone call from one of my potential tenants asking why I posted a lower price (spammer price) when I told him a higher price earlier that day when we met at the property. He ultimately didn't rent from me and I think that the CL spammer had some impact on his decision.

How does this scam play out?  I assume they try to collect a security deposit from the victim but I assume most people wouldn't wire money for a security deposit without seeing the place or asking a lot of questions.  It's hard to get people to sign a lease and give you a security deposit even as the legit owner, so if the scammers are this good perhaps I need to use them to rent out my properties for real!

Another option is scam the scammers and steal pictures of a castle owned by a Nigerian prince and see if I can get a security deposit from someone over there.

Chris Gilliland · Answer

Ha! If they would have responded to give me a phone number I was going to sign it up for automatic 2am wake up calls.

Linda S. · Answer

@Chris Gilliland,

It sucks when this happens.   CL took a day to take down the bad ad when it happened to me.   Your best proactive approach to let people know now, is post 5-10 ads against it--telling people it's a scam, and stating the real price.     I copied/pasted the pictures, and put "SCAM" -- next to it, the more obnoxious you can be, the better IMO.   I got a few emails thanking me!   The attorney general isn't going to do anything, because the scammer is likely in an African country.

When it happened to me, the scammer told people to "go look in the windows".. .and I think a lot of people did because the neighbors asked us about them.. all happened in 1 day, so if I were you, I'd go put something on the mailbox, and front door,  and maybe the closest window stating the cost and putting your contact information.

Also, if you wanna be a jerk, feel free to use their phone numbers and emails, and sign them up for mortgages, credit cards, and have them look like an A+ person so you know they marketers will be VERY aggressive!

To prevent it,  watermark the pictures and clearly state your contact information on the pictures.

Gail K. · Answer

I've seen ads with watermarked pictures that have also been stolen.  Sometimes the content is stolen without the pictures (this has happened to one of our local landlords; I know the description they always use and the rents they typically charge and saw a scammer ad that looked and sounded phony stolen from theirs).

It is suggested not to include the address or a picture of the front of the house in the ad as this can reduce the risk of the ad being stolen.  Unfortunately, places like Zillow, etc. often require that you include the address.

While this is upsetting one also has to realize (and my partner has said this to me several times over) that anyone who really believes they can rent a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house for $500 a month probably gets what they deserve.  We all want "a deal" but we can't be stupid about this.  Those that do fall for it are sometimes the truly desperate in terms of finding housing.

Obviously these scams work because they continue to occur.  Someone once sent a scammer $750 as a deposit on one of my houses without even asking to see the place despite living locally; she then contacted me asking if I could do anything about this.  Of course I could not.  When I asked her why she didn't at least ask to SEE the place before sending this money blindly she said she needed to find a place to live ASAP.

Gail

Chris Gilliland · Answer

out of the country doing "gods work" as missionaries.

This is exactly the story he is giving.

The scammers seem to be worse on craigslist.  I no longer put ads up there.

I had the ad on Zillow. They copied the add and posted the scam on CL.

i would be tempted to call the scammers and set up a time to meet up and sign a lease.

I have emailed trying to get a phone number but they haven't responded.

Paul Bowers · Answer

i would be tempted to call the scammers and set up a time to meet up and sign a lease.  Then you make sure you are accompanied by the authorities for the meeting.

Gail K. · Answer

As has been suggested, I have taped notices to the front door.

This is because scammers have, in the past, told those who contacted them to "ignore" the number on my For Rent sign but have also told them to drive by the house to view it from the outside.  They do not have keys to the place (of course) and their stories are always that they now either live out of town (or state) or out of the country doing "gods work" as missionaries.  Here in the south many will believe anything if someone tells them they has anything to do with a church (another lie of course).

It is also important that landlords change locks between tenants.  There are cases of evicted tenants keeping keys and later being the scammers and actually showing the places to applicants.

The scammers seem to be worse on craigslist.  I no longer put ads up there.

Gail

Terry Miller · Answer

I have sent the contact info of scammers to the state attorney general.

Fake / Scam Ads scaring away prospective tenants?

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