Tips to avoid apartment rental scams in Massachusetts

You’re out of state for the summer, and see a listing on Facebook Marketplace for a $1,200 studio in Beacon Hill. Lovely photos, the broker is friendly, and it seems like a great deal. You don’t want to miss out, so you send over the funds on PayPal. Then the “agent” disappears, and you’re not sure when you can move in. I hate to break it to you, but you’ve been scammed.

It’s August, when many leases have already been signed ahead of Boston’s Sept. 1 move-in rush. But there are many people still looking for apartments, and with competition high and housing stock low, scammers are hoping that desperation will work in their favor.

“It is kind of a prime time now for this scam to be perpetrated on people. So it wouldn’t be uncommon to see potentially a rise, during this time,” said Steve Kelleher, assistant special agent in charge of the white collar crimes branch at the FBI field office in Boston.

He explained that some scammers make up apartments using photos from the internet, and other fraudsters “hijack” legitimate real estate postings by copying the material and simply replacing the contact.

“We’ve had people that have shown up at apartments and the apartment’s either not for rent or was rented to somebody else, because of course they were communicating ... with someone who was not the owner of the property.” Kelleher added.

That happened to Douglas Quattrochi, executive director of MassLandlords. He saw his own apartment for rent, with photos taken from an old short-term listing. Prospective tenants reached out to see if it was still available.

“They just called me up — and I was like, 'I don’t have an apartment for rent.’ Someone had stolen the pictures,”’ he said.

Anna Ivanov, a landlord of a few units in the North End and Revere, said these fake listings are also bad for landlords. That’s why she goes on Facebook to flag potential scams for tenants.

“It’s very frustrating — my properties are listed for like $2,500 [to] $2,700 for a one-bedroom apartment. And, it’s really hard to compete with someone who’s listing for $1,400 or $1,500, which is, like, it’s not real, obviously,” she said.

Here’s advice to avoid rental scams and find a safe, legitimate place to live.

Slow down. Ignore the supposed competition.

Kelleher from the FBI said that fraudsters often tell people they have many others interested in their listing, so people jump quickly to send funds.

“Do your due diligence,” he said. 

What you can do:

• Ask questions about the rooms.
• Have some knowledge of average rental prices in your area.
• Try to see the property in person, or demand a video tour.

“Do not spend any money until you have laid eyes on the unit,” said Sarah Perlman of Greater Boston Legal Services, a staff attorney on the consumer rights unit. “If it’s impossible for you to be there in person yourself, maybe you can send a friend or another proxy.”

Research the person you’re talking to.

Background check the broker, landlord, or agent on these websites. This state website allows the public to check a dropdown menu called “”Board registration of real estate brokers and sales persons.”

“You should always Google the landlord or the property manager,” said Quattrochi. “They should have some kind of presence that indicates there’s something you can go to.” His organization’s website has a section for tenants to look up a certified landlord.

For students, Perlman recommends looking at housing databases that might be available through the university. She said Northeastern University and Boston College have lists of verified properties and landlords that the school has worked with.

Don’t fork over any funds on apps.

“We’re seeing a lot more with payment apps — Cash App, Zelle, things like that,” said Bill O’Hearn, chief of the consumer advocacy and response division at the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.

That’s because app transactions are harder to trace or recover than bank transfers or credit card charges. And online marketplaces, like Facebook or Craigslist, don’t take responsibility or give funds back for listings on their sites.

Don’t give out any personal information.

Rental scams can also lead to identity fraud.

O’Hearn said scam victims might have given out personal information in a background check form that wasn’t legitimate. If you shared your social security number, he recommends reporting it at IdentityTheft.gov, a website run by the Federal Trade Commission. The site will walk you through steps to figure out whether you should contact your financial institution or the Social Security Administration. This process can create an identity theft affidavit in case someone opens a line of credit in your name.

“It can also give you instructions on how to contact the credit bureaus in the event you want to put a credit freeze in place so no one can open an account in your name,” O’Hearn said.

Be aware of what fees are — and aren’t — legal.

Scammers may misrepresent fees or processes as standard. Here’s what to know about rental fees in Massachusetts.

Legal:

• Application fees to a landlord’s broker, or a real estate agent. But run a background check on them first through to make sure they are licensed.
• First and last month’s rent.
• Security deposit equal to one month’s rent.
• Lock change fees, which landlords use to change locks, as long as they are the actual cost of the lock.

Illegal:

• Holding fee to “set aside” the apartment for you.

Use your judgment:

• Many landlords will request first and last month’s rent and a security deposit around the same time you sign your lease. You can ask questions and request changes to the lease before signing and paying. Under Massachusetts law, you are also entitled to a receipt.
• Broker fees are arguably legal; some say they are, some say they’re not. Massachusetts law requires brokers provide tenants with written notice of such a fee when they first meet in person. And if you don’t end up renting the property, you don’t owe anything.
• If a licensed landlord, broker or agent asks you for an application fee and a security deposit, that is also a legal gray area. Landlords aren’t allowed to charge application fees, but brokers can, so do your research before paying.

Report suspected scams.

Sometimes people feel embarrassed about being defrauded and don’t report the situation.

“There’s a social taboo that comes with feeling like, 'OK, you know, someone tricked me, someone took advantage of me here,'” said Perlman. But time is of the essence if you want to get your money back and protect yourself.

“You have a matter of hours to alert federal authorities,” said Quattrochi of MassLandlords. “Sometimes they can go up to like a day or two, but basically it’s going to be really hard to stop that.”

The FBI’s Kelleher asks everyone to report fraud to IC3.gov. From there, the bureau can assist, and also see if this is a pattern occurring in other parts of the region.

You can also reach out to the Massachusetts attorney general’s office, which connects people who have been scammed to the FBI. They have an online complaint form, and the office calls back. If there’s some kind of Massachusetts connection, like the fraudster is a broker or real landlord but scammed an individual, mediation can also happen through the office.