STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Moving to a new city? Planning a vacation? As you consider issues like size, cost, and location of the rental, the Staten Island Board of Realtors (SIBOR) urges that you heed the following warning from the Federal Trade Commission: The rental listing that caught your attention could be a scam!
Thieves often advertise rentals that don’t exist or aren’t available in order to trick people into sending money before they find out the truth.
A recent article in the Staten Island Advance highlighted one such scam after a listing for a home in Sunnyside was hijacked by fraudsters and falsely posted on Trulia.com as a rental.
“These scams can take place just about anywhere,” said Sandy Krueger, CEO of SIBOR, “It’s vitally important that consumers know how to protect themselves.”
With this in mind, SIBOR is sharing the following red flags of rental scammers from the FTC:
1) They tell you to wire money
This is the surest sign of a scam. There’s never a good reason to wire money to pay a security deposit, application fee, first month’s rent, or vacation rental fee. That’s true even if they send you a contract first. Wiring money is the same as sending cash — once you send it, you have no way to get it back.
2) They want a security deposit or first month’s rent before you’ve met or signed a lease
It’s never a good idea to send money to someone you’ve never met in person for an apartment you haven’t seen. If you can’t visit an apartment or house yourself, ask someone you trust to go and confirm that it’s for rent, and that it is what was advertised. In addition to setting up a meeting, do a search on the owner and listing. If you find the same ad listed under a different name, that’s a clue it may be a scam.
3) They say they’re out of the country
But they have a plan to get the keys into your hands. It might involve a lawyer or an “agent” working on their behalf. Some scammers even create fake keys. Don’t send money to them overseas. If you can’t meet in person, see the apartment, or sign a lease before you pay, keep looking. What if the rental itself is overseas? Paying with a credit card, by PayPal, or through a reputable vacation rental website with its own payment system are
About The Staten Island Board of REALTORS® (SIBOR)
The Staten Island Board of REALTORS® (SIBOR) is the largest not-for-profit trade association in Staten Island, N.Y.
SIBOR exists to enhance the ability and opportunity of its members to conduct their business successfully and ethically; and to promote the preservation of the public’s right to own, transfer and use real property.
Comprised of over 1,600 members, SIBOR serves real estate agents, brokers and affiliated professionals throughout the borough and surrounding areas.
SIBOR is the provider of the Staten Island Multiple Listing Service Inc. (SIMLS), which works as a clearinghouse through which more than 250 local real estate firms exchange information on properties they have listed for sale. Together, its members participate in over 3,000 real estate transactions every year.
All SIBOR members belong to the New York State Association of REALTORS® (NYSAR) and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR).
SIBOR may be reached at 718-979-0007 and viewed online at http://siborrealtors.com. SIBOR may also be visited on Facebook at “Staten Island Board of Realtors,” on Twitter via @SIBOR, and on YouTube at the Staten Island Board of Realtors and RelevantPR channels.
Media Contact: Barton Horowitz
Relevant Public Relations, LLC
Headquarters: 718 682 1509
Mobile: 917 715 8761
Email: Bhorowitz@RelevantPR.com
