Craigslist Rental Scams have been around for a long time. Scammers seem to have the ability to quickly adapt to changes in the rental market and stay one step ahead of their victims. It is unfortunate that many professional Atlanta landlords and property managers do not adapt as quickly. This gap is getting larger and leaving you and your investment property at risk. This Atlanta Craigslist Ad is currently running as of November 2, 2016. Advertising "novelty" social security cards, bank statements, rental references, payroll and much more. (see list below) quoted from the ad
"Most of the work is completed the same day and only takes 30 mins to 1 hr to generate the only exception is bank statements which take usually 24-48 to generate depending on the bank. If someone should need same day service add $25 to each statement needed The gap leaves you and your investment property vulnerable.
- Job Verification Only $50.00 (Need Company to Use $75.00)
- Bank Statement $125.00 ea $100 when purchase 4 or more (MOST COMMON INSTITUTIONS IE: Boa, Chase, wells, suntrust)*
- Tax Forms - 1040 W2 1099 ($60.00)
- Utility Bill -- Xfinity, Ga Power, Gas South $50.00
- Proof of Residential History (Lease) $60.00
- SS Duplicate (soft copy) $75 (hard copy) $125
- State ID duplicate $80 no hard copys at the moment call and request desired state "
INCOME VERIFICATION, INCOME DOCUMENTATION,STATEMENTS,NOVELTIES, INCOME DOCS,CHECKSTUB, CHECKSTUBS, CHECK STUB, CHECK STUBS, PAYSTUB, PAYSTUBS, PAY STUB, PAY STUBS, MOCK, PROP, PROOF OF INCOME, PROVE YOUR INCOME, PAYCHECK STUBS, PAYCHECK STUB, PAY CHECK STUB,S PAY CHECK STUBS,DOCUMENTS, SERVICE, STUB,STUBS,STUB, STUBS,INCOME,PAY PROOF,INCOME PROOF, VERIFICATION,STATEMENTS,PAYROLL,FINANCIAL VERIFICATION,VERIFICATION,NOVELTY,PAYROLL, PROOF,FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS,NO JOB VERIFICATION, ALTERNATIVE FINANCIAL SERVICES, PAYROLL SERVICES, NO JOB VERIFICATION,DOCUMENT SERVICES.STATEMENTS,FINANCIAL PROOF,NOVELTY INCOME VERIFICATION,PROOF OF PAY,FINANCIAL PROOF DOCUMENT, STUBS, W2, UTILITY ,NO LOAN MODIFICATION, PAPERWORK EARNINGS STATEMENT, STATEMENT OF EARNING
Screen your Atlanta Rental Management Company. Are they familiar with this scam and what specific policies and procedures do they have in place, in the event one of these fake documents were submitted with the rental application?
Atlanta rental market is strong, finding a tenant is easy but it takes a specific skill set to be able to determine the legitimacy of the tenant applicant. Platinum Property Management has that skill set. Only 2% of our tenants paid late last quarter.
Tenant screening AND screening your Atlanta Property Management Company are the two most important steps in building your rental portfolio.
Are you confident that your Atlanta Property Manager will know the difference? If you are a self-managing landlord, will you know what to look for?
Another popular Craigslist Rental Scam is creating aliases and fake rental listings to lure tenant applicants to apply. That is why many quality tenants will choose to only rent with a professional property management company and will NOT rent with a self-managing landlord.
This scam continues to escalate as new aliases continue to appear. The aliases names change and perhaps slight changes in their methods. The misrepresentation is consistent. Their end goal is to steal your identity and access your bank account.
They steal rental listing photos that are posted online. Copy the photo and property description. Alter the legitimate ad to reflect a significant drop in the listing price. They will typically include utilities with the price reduction.
Example: The legitimate rental ad posts a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home for $1200.00. The scam ad will list the same property, same photos and assume the homeowner’s identity but list the home for $800.00, with utilities included. When you respond to the scam ad , they will have a sob story or say they can not show the property. Eventually, they will request a wire transfer via Western Union or Money Gram wired service. They do not provide their names to post on transfer, only “landlord”.
Other commonalities are :
- misspellings in the email
- character mistakes (hello,my namesis Bob)
- email from generic or free email provider (yahoo, gmail,hotmail, etc)
- email usually references, God, UK, Cashiers check, Nigeria or they claim to be a Reverend
- overuse of capitalization
- long distance landlord
- requesting that you provide a code sent to your cell phone via text or phone call
- They will rent it to you and mail you the keys if you sent a deposit
We receive calls directly from potential victims that were confused when they noticed two ads for the same house with drastically different market prices. If you have access to the legitimate ad, you can contact the legitimate property manager for the details on the available listing.
Work with local businesses. Ask for the office location or schedule a personal meeting.
If you have wired money but the scammer has not collected the money, the wire transfer company can reverse the transfer.
contact: FTC Complaint Assistant
When reporting scams, include as much as possible of the following: the name and address of the sender, the send location, the date and amount of the transfer, the transfer fee, the date and actual location of the receipt, the name of the receiver, any information recorded regarding the receiver's identification, the reference number for the transfer, and the details of the nature of the issue.
This post was originally posted July 2015, since then, it has been revamped with the latest Rental Scams.