Rental scams increasing ! Low cost fake rentals on the market.

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I am seeing/hearing a lot more about rental scams in my area, where scammers will list a unit for cheap and collect fees on unsuspecting applicants.  It seems to be increasing quite a bit according to people I talk to locally. 

The most common method seems to be to list houses for sale as rentals, the scammers tell prospective renters that they have changed their mind about selling and are going to rent it, and they don't use management companies because "they take too much money" but also happen to be out of the country.... 

Is this happening in other areas? Any common threads or factors people are noting?  Any horror stories from dealing with this yourselves?

One thing I had to keep in mind was that these are not valid rental comps when pricing my own units. I see posts on zillow with an unusually low rent and a lot of contacts, yet still on the market after a long period.  

I'm also going to be watermarking my own images and putting a note on the door about what the correct contacts are in case I get targeted as a landlord.