You’re in a time crunch, you need to rent an apartment. You put out a wanted ad and someone contacts you with a great place. They send you pictures. You agree on the rental, you send over your deposit and your move in date is set. You show up with your stuff, knock on the door, and someone else lives in that place. They have no idea who you are…. THIS is such an easy scam because you didn’t meet the landlord, they sent you photos of an existing rental place, and you didn’t tour the apartment beforehand…..   Every industry out there is subject to scams and scam artists will do anything to get your money. This scam plaguing the rental industry has unfortunately caught many people.

The scam is geared more towards apartment hunters who are time sensitive. From people having to relocate quickly or are dealing with personal issues, most don’t have the time to check to see if the ads are legit.

Thankfully there are some quick methods you can use to help with avoiding getting caught. The first thing is being aware of the apartment application process. In normal circumstances, you would be meeting the landlord and have checked the apartment first before being asked to send any money over. So it raises a red flag if the person you are emailing is demanding money up front.

The second thing is paying attention to the landlord as well. Most would want to know credit scores, get to know you and have some background info about you. If the landlord isn’t that keen on screening you, chances are it’s a scam.

The third strategy is to be suspicious of high-security deposits or upfront fees. Before diving into the apartment hunting, make sure to brush up on your province or state’s security deposit fees and other fees. If a landlord asks for more money than what is legally required of them or is asking for too many fees, chances are they want your money and will run with it.

The fourth sign this can be a rental scam is if the person makes a point in saying you don’t need a lawyer. While that’s true you generally don’t need a lawyer to review an apartment, “the fact they’re going out of their way” to tell you that is unusual and suspicious.

It’s also suspicious if the landlord tells you, you don’t need a lease. You should definitely have a lease. That’s the typical renting situation for most places. But this is suspicious because in this instance the landlord isn’t considering your needs and you may want a lease. Looking deeper into this, the landlord may be stressing this because they don’t have a lease to show you and they don’t want to meet you.

The final sign is the fact the landlord isn’t willing or able to meet with you or show you the apartment. Some may claim they are living outside the country or come up with some other excuse like being on vacation. Either way it’s a tactic to be suspicious of.

Scams are all over the place and as long as you are doing your homework and double checking everything you can get out of these traps. However if you are caught in a scam, you can always take measures in capturing the scam artist. One such way is calling the police and telling them your situation. Even if you’re not hopeful they’ll catch the culprit, the police will at least warn others so they don’t get caught as well.