It’s each landlord’s worst nightmare: being scammed by their tenant. As if there weren’t sufficient scams round, ripping off landlords is changing into more and more standard. Whether or not it’s seeing your rental apartment listed online by another person or receiving fake employment and financial documents, coping with con artists is without doubt one of the explanation why many buyers determine that being a landlord is extra hassle than it’s price.
Based on HousingWire, 93% of landlords have found fraudulent tenant paperwork, and 84% have uncovered false revenue or employment claims. Fraud detection and revenue verification software program Snappt reported that 6.4% of rental applications were fraudulent in 2024—scams have gotten more and more refined.
Snappt and rentprep.com have listed a number of the most typical scams landlords want to pay attention to. Nevertheless, HousingWire experiences that scammers are evading fraud detection software program through the use of solid pay stubs, altered credit score experiences, and faux employment letters. Mother-and-pop landlords who personal single-family houses and don’t have the monetary assets of bigger house buildings are more and more within the scammers’ crosshairs.
Profession Scammers
Probably the most egregious current scams concerned Russell and Linda Callahan, who had been indicted for orchestrating a rental scam that stretched out for 20 years in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Amongst their checklist of fraudulent actions had been bouncing safety deposit checks, mendacity on purposes, and defrauding landlords out of over $100,000.
Faux Landlords
Being a fake landlord is one other standard rip-off method, the place listings are posted on social media, and potential tenants hand over hundreds of {dollars} with no authorized proper to be within the property.
Typically, on-line rental websites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Flats.com have extra sturdy fraud safety software program in place, with inquiries directed to actual property brokers, however social media websites like Fb Market and Craigslist are the wild west on the subject of pretend listings, as a result of it’s the place smaller landlords are inclined to publish, making them simply searchable and capable of be defrauded.
Rental administration platform Rently reported that, as of 2023 numbers, pretend rental listings have led to a forty five% improve in rental rip-off complaints reported to the FTC and Higher Enterprise Bureau during the last two years. Victims typically lose their safety deposit and first month’s hire. Based on a Rently survey, about half of the respondents lose $1,000 or extra, and eight% lose over $5,000.
“As housing demand surges, scammers are exploiting renters’ desperation with alarming precision,” Rently CEO Merrick Lackner mentioned in a press launch. “Past the monetary loss, these scams create lasting emotional hurt, turning what needs to be an thrilling step right into a supply of stress and heartbreak.”
AI Will Enhance Scams
Snappt’s 2024 Fraud Report: Data, Trends, and Strategies for 2025 means that synthetic intelligence (AI) will play an more and more vital position in would-be tenants scamming, with ever-sophisticated methods of manipulating paperwork.
“As fraud continues to evolve in 2025, leveraging best-in-class doc fraud detection and revenue verification expertise is the one solution to catch these unhealthy actors earlier than they end in monetary losses,” mentioned Snappt CEO Daniel Berlind within the firm’s launch.
The South Is America’s Scamming Heartland
Based on Snappt’s Top U.S. Cities for Application Fraud 2025, Atlanta is America’s No. 1 metropolis for software fraud, with a 17.9% charge in 2025. Houston is second (16.2%), adopted by Dallas/Fort Price (13.2%).
“Over the previous two years, there’s been a noticeable improve in rental scams, with a higher focus within the Houston space,” Michael Molloy, director of the Texas Actual Property Fee, said in a press release. “These scams are deceiving landlords, tenants, and even our license holders into fraudulent lease agreements.”
Utilizing an Agent Helps Shield Towards Fraud—Generally
The fail-safe solution to keep away from falling sufferer to a rental itemizing rip-off as a potential tenant is to satisfy the “landlord” in particular person. For precise landlords, utilizing a licensed Realtor is the most secure means to make sure a tenant isn’t a rip-off artist. These professionals have a license to guard and entry to firm software program, which is probably going extra rigorous than that of an investor. Nevertheless, even some brokers aren’t savvy to the strategies utilized by seasoned tenant scammers.
A property proprietor within the celebrity-studded neighborhood of Calabasas in Los Angeles used a good actual property company to seek out tenants for her house. After they moved in, they filed a litany of complaints, employed attorneys, and instantly stopped paying hire whereas internet hosting events. Inside 4 months, the tenants price the proprietor $100,000 in damages.
“They turned my house into certainly one of these megamansion celebration homes such as you see on the information,” proprietor Cheri Woods advised the New York Post.
One New York horror story, depicted in New York Magazine, describes the ordeal of a Manhattan landlord who allowed a seemingly well-paid architect with impeccable credentials into her condominium—solely to have him demolish the inside and demand cash to go away. It turned out he had finished the identical factor to different landlords previously, however expertly lined his path.
Seasoned agents ought to now be ready to go the additional mile to display tenants. “Many, many brokers will run a credit score test on behalf of an incoming tenant, however not a felony background test,” Douglas Elliman agent Carl A. Ekroth advised the Put up. “When qualifying any potential tenants, landlords ought to at all times insist on each.”
Homeowners Ought to Oversee Their Brokers
Los Angeles-area actual property investor Jameson Tyler Drew of Anubis Properties advises that landlords shouldn’t rely solely on brokers and will conduct their very own due diligence on the people they rent to vet their tenants.
“I really like my occupation, however I would be the first to let you know that there are some individuals on this enterprise who shouldn’t be,” Drew advised the Put up. “I’ve seen brokers and brokers knee-deep in all method of scams.”
Methods Landlords Can Shield Themselves From Scammers
So in case you’re a landlord, how do you be sure to don’t fall prey to those frequent scams? Listed here are 5 steps to take.
1. Strengthen screening and authentication
Demand verifiable ID and revenue documentation. Use instruments with enhanced identification verification, doc authentication, and credit score and background checks. Apply AI expertise screening options to flag inconsistencies and establish refined solid paperwork.
2. Know the overpayment crimson flag
When a tenant overpays and requests a partial refund, be cautious. It’s a typical rip-off. Confirm the authenticity with the financial institution.
3. Create clear insurance policies round subleasing, and test itemizing websites
Keep away from itemizing your house on short-term rental websites by prohibiting subleasing in your lease.
4. Monitor itemizing websites and model your individual leases so others can’t use them
Watermarking your itemizing photographs is an apparent solution to deter scammers from itemizing them on the Web. Make sure you keep knowledgeable about what web sites are posting.
5. Insist on safe fee strategies by means of verifiable platforms
Keep away from wire transfers, cryptocurrency, and reward playing cards.
Last Ideas
Examine with native districts in regards to the landlord-tenant policies in your space. In New York, skilled tenants have been recognized to be allowed to stay in flats for over a yr with out paying hire. Ideally, nonetheless, you’d have stopped a scamming tenant lengthy earlier than they set foot into your house.
Generally, landlords are so determined to fill their models that they shortcut the vetting procedures. You may be setting yourself up for a whole world of hurt. The extra particular documentation you require, resembling financial institution statements, letters from employers, and background checks, that you could confirm, the extra you’ll deter scammers.
