Rental Scams for Loxkbox Showings!

[Maggie Ratner]

In St.Louis, we have had an amazing amount of scams regarding rental homes on lockbox showings. The gist is the scammers gain access either copy your keys or leave a door unlocked then copy your add to FB at approximately $200 cheaper. Then they try to collect deposit and rent and move a prospect into the property.

They use google voice, the use fake or texting apps to shield their phone numbers etc.

My question is has anyone else come across this and have you put any safe guards in place to protect property or potential resident from the scam?

[John Teachout]

I've had people advertise my rentals for a couple hundred (or more) less than what I'm asking. (Always on Craigslist) Apparently they try to collect a holding fee via some untraceable funding means such as Western Union or something. What I've found effective is to put a "for rent" sign in front of our property with our phone number on it and the rent price. This results in the "Hey I saw your property advertised for $750 and the sign says it''s $1050?" I think the chance of someone doing these scams actually going to the property is low. In fact most of them are probably from overseas.

We require someone to take a pic of their driver's license before providing access on a remote showing.