• Feb 04, 2017 Las Cruces Realtors thwart rental scams
    Gary Sandler
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    Published 4 February 2017

    Picture this: You’re a property manager and you receive a call from a nice-sounding couple who want to rent one of the rental homes you manage. You begin to tell the prospective tenants about the many amenities the home has to offer when the couple informs you that they’ve already been through the house, like it, and are ready to submit an application and sign a lease. The only problem is that neither you nor anyone in your office showed the property to the couple.

    So, how did the nice couple gain access to the house? That’s the first question that came to mind for local Realtor and property manager, Sharon Hartford, who was representing the owner of the home. After a brief conversation with the couple, Hartford learned that the couple saw an ad for the home on Craig’s List and called the number listed in the ad. The purported owner provided details about the property, informed the couple that it was unlocked, and encouraged them to do a walk-through inspection before submitting their application.

    After exiting the home, the couple noticed Hartford’s for rent sign in the yard and phoned her to express their desire to rent it. It was during that conversation when Hartford realized that someone had “hijacked” the rental ad she had placed on the real estate website Trulia and was attempting to scam the couple out of not only their money, but their identity as well. The scammer even went as far as to tell the couple that he had decided to fire Hartford and rent out the property himself.

    Local Realtor David Rowe recently found himself in a similar situation, when he advertised a home for sale on Zillow.com. According to Rowe, he received five phone calls from prospective tenants who responded to a rental ad on Craig’s list and saw his for sale sign when they visited the home. One of the people who visited the property went as far as to share the email address and phone number provided by the scammer, who Rowe contacted. According to Rowe, the brazen scammer told him that “there’s nothing you can do about it,” referring to Rowe’s observation that the thief was breaking the law.

    Rental scams have been around for decades. The so-called 419 scheme – named after the Nigerian penal code section under which this particular kind of fraud is prosecuted – has been around since the early 1980s, according to the FBI’s website, www.fbi.gov. The key to avoiding such scams is to recognize the red flags associated with the schemes. Most are easy to spot, according to the following list of signs from the federal government’s website, www.usa.gov/housing-scams:

    • The advertised price of the rental property is much lower than that of similar properties.
    • Ads for the property have grammatical and spelling errors, overuse of capital letters, or use uncommon spellings of words, like “favour” instead of “favor.”
    • The person trying to rent you the property claims to be an agent for the property owner who is too busy, out of the country, or otherwise unavailable to handle the rental.
    • The owner or agent requires you to sign the lease before you see the rental property.
    • The owner or agent isn’t able to let you enter the home or apartment or charges you a fee to view it.
    • You’re asked to wire money as a deposit or payment of first and last month’s rent. Remember wiring money is the same as giving cash. You can’t get a refund, even if you find out the offer was a fraud.
    • The owner or agent uses high pressure sales tactics, urging you to rent quickly, before someone else gets the property.
    • The person preparing the lease writes in a higher monthly rent or additional fees that you hadn’t agreed upon.

    Local, state and federal authorities agree that it’s important to report scams as soon as possible. Randy Maxey, police services specialist for the Las Cruces Police Department, said “It’s important to document and report such fraud, especially if it involves a monetary loss.” Maxey went on to say that tracking down the perpetrators is a difficult task, especially when the scammers are based in other states or countries.

    Scams can also be reported to the New Mexico Attorney General’s office via their website, http://www.nmag.gov/file-a-complaint.aspx, and to the Federal Trade Commission’s website, www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.

    Losing one’s hard-earned money is one thing. Having one’s identity stolen can be far more disastrous and long-lasting, so be especially wary when submitting rental applications that contain your personal information.

    See you at closing.

    Gary Sandler is a full-time Realtor and president of Gary Sandler Inc., Realtors in Las Cruces. He can be reached at 575-642-2292 or Gary@GarySandler.com.

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      Gary Sandler