Possible Rental Scam

[Anna]

I'm posting about a possible rental scam that we experienced this weekend. Young couple, he claims to be a disabled military veteran planning to attend UHH and moving from Oregon. Very convincing and sweet.

Here's how this went down:

Email and say they've been approved for another home but want to see this one first. They have to respond by "noon" to the other owner. Come at 11am, love the house, fill out application claiming to have a large amount in savings with monthly disability. They know we don't have time to verify their application information and offer to pay 6 mo. to a year in advance by transferring into our account.

We refused the transfer and the payment in advance. If they wanted to rent the house, we'd sign a lease contingent on the application info checking out. Were to meet the next evening to sign lease. They put off a day saying they had to set up a checking acct. here, etc. No show - no answer - no response.

Now - IF this is a legitimate couple, I apologize in advance. But the way it all went down seemed very suspicious to me.

Just a heads-up to homeowners/rental agents - in case my suspicion is true.
Anna

[pslamont]

Anna, thank you for listing this!! It is hard sometimes to present the "bad" stuff but this sounds like a scam to me too. NO ONE pays rent by transferring into your account. They have no receipt to show they paid rent, so it makes no sense. Good for you giving us all a heads up.

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[Kapohocat]

Well thats not exactly true. if its the same bank/cu it can be done.

My tenant does their rent like that - we bank at the same credit union in Hilo and both sides of the transaction say to / from. She can do it over the phone without my account #! She just gives them my name and they transfer from hers to mine (with all the proper security precaustions & Pass code). And I look later on and the deposit says "from Ms xyz". When I have transfers out before my transaction list says to "Mr xyz" again at same CU.

But in this current economic climate, any one who is doing 6 mo is a possible scam.

[pslamont]

I guess my point is that I would be suspicious of this as a first transaction. It just doesn't feel right. In a hurry, no time to check references, etc..... feels bad.

I want to be the kind of woman that, when my feet
hit the floor each morning, the devil says

"Oh Crap, She's up!"

[Anna]

Update: We heard from them today. Reason: They are having trouble transferring to new CU acct.

So - it may be legit.

The no-show, no-call raised a red flag....

[dcl]

Times are tough for a lot of people right now and scams are everywhere, just be vigilant, it is ok to question and be careful.

We all need to keep in mind there are many people going through severe financial difficulties such as bankruptcies and foreclosures that are leaving many great people who have never had any issues before with terrible credit reports, which leads to difficulties at times in getting a rental. One of the suggestions for these difficulties is the offering of several months rent in advance, to show good faith so people may secure a place to live.

So yes there are great people around, and also scammers, trying to figure out which is which is why questions need to be asked at times and this site is a great resource for things happening in our community.