Don’t Be Lured into a Rental Agency Trap

How can you tell if the rentals posted on Craigslist are real?

By Joshlin Sheridan, Marketing —

Fake Online Postings

Imagine you are interested in moving into a new apartment. Craigslist is probably the first place you might look, right? You see a perfect posting for a modest, clean apartment that fits right with your budget. But when you contact the seller, she says she is out of the country but will secure the spot for you if you wire her a down payment. What would you do?

As it turns out, Craigslist and other rental posting websites contain many fake rental scams. These are often based on real, vacant listings but the prices and information have been manipulated.

Recommendations for Online Hosing Postings

Here are some things to watch out for when looking at online housing postings:
Don’t do business with anyone asking for wire transfers or owners claiming to be out of the country and wanting a security deposit. It’s also wise to be suspicious of anyone unwilling to meet in person; you should always be able to vet the identification and credibility of an online dealer before pursing the rental or purchase. Above all, use your common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Vetting the Identity of Sellers

IdentityDetect™ is web-based and mobile app technology that can verify someone’s identity within about 2 minutes through a nonintrusive test that monitors variations in motor nervous system responses. This technology could potentially be used to verify if people the identity of people claiming to represent legitimate real estate agencies when posting property rentals. IdentityDetect could also be helpful in customer identification for Airbnb customers, passport applicants, dating websites, and more.

Learn more about IdentityDetect here

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Photo by / Hardik Pandya