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Home & Daily Life

Apartment hunting and rental scams

Fake listings copy real photos and ask for money before you've seen the place. See it in person or by live video, search the address for duplicate ads, and never pay by wire, gift card or crypto.

Easy10 min to readFree

You'll need

  • The listing link
  • Your phone, to search the address and owner

What to know

  1. Search the address along with the owner's or company's name. If the same place shows up with a different owner or company, that's a sign of a scam (FTC).
  2. Search the owner or company name with words like "complaint," "review" or "scam" (FTC).
  3. See the place before you sign or pay: in person, through a friend, or on a video tour. The FTC notes even that isn't a guarantee (FTC).
  4. Walk away from pressure to decide fast, and from anyone who asks for payment by wire transfer, gift card or crypto. Money sent that way is like cash (FTC).
  5. Get the lease in writing before you pay anything beyond a normal application fee.
Watch out. An owner who is "out of the country" and can't show the place, rent far below the area's going rate, or the same home listed for sale are all red flags (FTC).

If it doesn't work

  • If you already paid a scammer, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and contact the company you paid through (your bank, card or the money transfer service) right away.
  • If you sent your Social Security number or license photo, go to IdentityTheft.gov for a recovery plan.
  • If a site posted the fake listing, report the listing to that site.

Good to know

The credit-score trick

Some fake landlords ask you to send screenshots of your credit scores. The FTC says the real goal is to sign you up for paid credit monitoring with recurring fees (FTC).

Your rights while you look

It's illegal to refuse to rent to you because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status or disability (HUD).

Check the real company

If a big property company is named, go to its own website to see if the unit is listed there.

Sources

  1. Federal Trade Commission Rental listing scams
  2. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Fair housing rights and obligations
  3. Federal Trade Commission IdentityTheft.gov

Lesson H1.2 · Last checked October 2, 2026 against the sources listed. See a mistake?