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The Austin Police Department is warning people to be cautious when it comes to renting property after noticing a rise in rental listing scams in the area.

While not necessarily a new scam, APD Capt. Todd Clennon said the department has noticed an uptick in cases locally over the past couple years, which is oftentimes done solely online without any face-to-face contact.

And once the money is gone it most likely is gone for good.

“We have very limited means to recover this money,” Clennon said. “What happens with these scammers is they create their account, you send the money, cash it out, delete and they are gone.”

As with cases here in Austin, many of these scams are done through online sites like Facebook’s Marketplace. A case in Austin saw the victim out $1,500 after making payments of $700 and $800 through an online money transfer system, the latter being paid to get the keys mailed to the victim, but no keys actually delivered.

Clennon said that often the cases are made more difficult because people are in a position where they need a place to live.

“The thing with this is, and I think what is compounding it is that when people are looking for a place to live and rent, there is generally a life situation that has caused that,” Clennon said. “They’ve moved, they have issues at home with family. They need to find a place so they are vulnerable. I’ve got to have a place to live.”

According to a dedicated page on rental listing scams on the Minnesota Attorney General’s website, these types of scams often originate in another country and follow a common formula of posting rental listings online on classified and rental websites as well as other places. 

Generally, the rental prices are very low in order to attract as many potential victims as possible. 

Money is then asked for upfront via wire transfers or reloadable cards claiming its being used to hold the property or pay the security deposit or first month’s rent.

Complicating these cases is the fact that the scammer will require rental applications that may add a level of legitimacy, but would put personal information allowing for opportunities of identity theft in the scammer’s hands.

Another aspect of this scam could include a cashier’s check sent to the victim who in turn is asked to cash the check and forward a portion of the funds to a third party.

However, the cashier’s check is counterfeit resulting in the victim being held responsible by their bank for funds sent to the scammer.

Clennon said he once investigated a similar case that resulted in the victim losing $85,000. He tracked the culprits to an address in Los Angeles and asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help.

The feds informed Clennon that they knew of the group involved, but that they were based out of Tijuana, Mexico.

“Dead end,” Clennon said, explaining that scams originating in other countries often lead to the end of what local police can do.

He went on to urge people to be very cautious involving any kind of deal online and to do research on any place being looked at to rent starting by looking into whether the property is even real.

“In regard to rental ads, the first thing is we’ve found sometimes the address doesn’t exist,” Clennon said. “Did you go look to see if there is actually a house there?”

He also said that any kind of deal or arrangement should be done face to face with no money exchanged online. Oftentimes a simple online search can give a person the information they need to verify the legitimacy of the rental ad. 

“If you don’t know who you are sending money to, you don’t know this person — don’t send them money,” Clennon said.

Likewise, The Minnesota State Attorney’s Office has on its site tips on what to look for regarding red flags:

• You are offered an unbelievably low rental price. Scam artists often make the rental price in their listings very low to attract as many potential renters as possible.
• You are asked to act quickly. Scam artists often attempt to create a false sense of urgency in an attempt to get people to send them money before they have time to think the situation through.
• If you are asked to send money via a wire transfer or reloadable card. When you send money in these ways, it is the same as sending cash — it is nearly untraceable, and once the money is picked up on the other end, it is almost never recoverable.

“You have to be incredibly cautious,” Clennon said.

For more information on rental listing scams and similar scams, visit: https://www.ag.state.mn.us/Consumer/Publications/RentalListingScams.asp