Con Artists Can Victimize Landlords And Tenants
Cons can go 2 ways: Whether you are a property manager getting conned by a prospective
applicant or you are a occupant paying the money to a person that is not even the title-holder of the dwelling you are renting!Falsified claims and Web cons are consistently on the climb, so is it any surprise that it has lastly hit the rental real estate business?
RENTER CONS:
This past January the U.S. Postal Inspector gave warning that certain landlords are being scammed by scammers using fake checks, certified checks, bank checks and sometimes money orders. Property managers need be very suspicious in answering a potential applicant or roommate who replies from another country to an Internet solicitation the property manager may have posted.
These con artists will inquire to deliver the deposit with a cashiers check, money order or some other form of non-cash payment, in most situations asking to compensate several months in advance in addition to a few administrative charges. The con artist will then require the property manager to send back part of the funds, usually the administrative costs or request that the complete amount be refunded by giving a explanation that they could not take ownership of the property.
After that, the property manager returns some or all of the funds, the check is then found to be fake. These scam artists are usually from outside the States and even with the help of police can be very challenging to hunt down. This means the cash comes out of apartment manager's bank account. This con has also happened over the phone.
Here are a number of tips to avoid applicant con artists:
* Always have an in-person meeting with any potential applicant.
* When accepting any payment from a potential applicant, save for cash; be sure that you wait for the check to be accepted by your bank and give it an extra 10 days.
* Conduct extensive credit checks.
* The old saying: If it seems to good to be true, it is!
If you are the victim of one of these cons, report it to the Post Office Inspector General and The FBI-Internet Fraud Unit.
LANDLORD SCAM:
The "phony landlord" con happens every so often, but recently an impostor went as far as using the court system to protect his rights as a landlord.
Last year, a renter moved into her new apartment in Baldwin, New York only to learn months later that the man to whom she was giving her rent payment was not the property manager after all. He was an impostor with no claim to the property, trying to make a quick buck off an unsuspecting victim in need of living arrangements.
Before the con was discovered, it took a turn for the plain old weird. When the occupant stopped paying rent because the man did not make promised repairs to the rental property, he did not just take his profits and run. Instead, the impostor pulled his landlord hat down tighter and actually sued the renter to collect the unpaid money owed!
A tip led law enforcement to arrest the man on charges of burglary and grand larceny, after he allegedly pocketed over $10,000 in illegal rent. He reportedly faces up to 7 years in prison, if convicted.
TIP:
If you are ever in doubt and something smells out of the ordinary, you can always do a public records search for the owner of the property you are about to rent.
Just head to your local court of law for this information. There may be a small charge.
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