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http://www.goldenwestmanagement.com – In this video, Alex Santos with GoldenWest Management shares with you how rental scams work.

Rental scams are everywhere. If you’re a property owner not working with a professional management company, we urge you to proceed with caution when trying to rent your property online. This is how easy it is for someone to get scammed.

Step one: the scammer will find an actual listing on Zillow or MLS. They’ll replicate the pictures and description from the legitimate listing and create a duplicate listing on a new site for half the market rate.

Step two: once the scammer relists the property for a cheaper monthly rent than normal for the area, they wait for a prospective tenant to contact them. Information is easy to find online and the scammer may even give the actual owner’s name as their own, to further deceive a prospective tenant. The scammer will call and text from an untraceable Google number so there’s no chance of chasing them down after the scam.

Step three: The scammer sets up a viewing with the prospective tenant. Something “comes up” and they won’t be able to make it. They may encourage the prospective tenant to peek in the windows or look around the exterior to see if they like it.

Step four: The scammer sends a fake lease to the prospective tenant. The tenant signs this fake lease, wires the money to the scammer, and the scammer vanishes. This leaves the prospective tenant out their money, time, and the home they thought they’d be moving into. In a potentially even worse case, the scammer takes the information off of that fake lease and uses it to open cards, purchase items, and steal the identity of the prospective tenant.

Don’t let this be you. We’re here to protect both tenants and owners. You can avoid all this trouble by working with a trusted property management group like GoldenWest Management.

To prevent scammers on the properties we list, we watermark all photos. We place signage around the property to increase awareness of rental scams. When a prospective tenant reaches out to view a property, we always verify where they saw the listing.

For prospective tenants, never wire money. Don’t fill out a lease or application unless it’s on a secure site. Never work with anyone who doesn’t have a valid Real Estate license number.

We want to help you avoid scams and Rent It Like You Mean It. Find more information at goldenwestmanagement.com, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram at GWMPM.