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Linda Jo Reil
March 21, 2024
Glad I read this!
Alice Diamond
March 21, 2024
Great article, Ari!
Jim Marsden
March 21, 2024
Here's another wrinkle: My wife saw on Facebook a listing for an apartment in Rhode Island in a nice-looking home for a really reasonable rent. She answered the ad and a woman claiming to be the owner told her to apply right away as she needed to rent the place soon. She said an application fee of just $39 fee was the first step, payable through PayPal. One odd direction: please select the type of payment as Friend or Family. That should have been a red flag, but my wife did as asked. Then the supposed owner asked for a second fee for the spouse. My wife told me then about all this, and I said wait, tell her you need to discuss first.
I googled the name provided for the PayPal already sent and the only hit was a person in an African country. Oh no, I told my wife, tell her you can't continue and ask for the $39 back. No reply, of course. When I check the Facebook listing again, a viewer had posted a one-word comment: "scam." At least we were out just the $39, but I'm sure more fees would have been raised if we had continued. And sending a PayPal payment as Friend or Family is not refundable!
Abby
March 21, 2024
I was looking for a place for rent on Trulia and I was contacted by a text from someone who claimed that they owned the property. The phone number was from a far away state, she said right away to me that I could move in but had to pay her first! I asked her which apartment it was and all she said was that she owned the house! I was confused cuz she didn’t know the address but that she owned it. I gave her the address I was looking at and she said oh yes that’s the one, I definitely knew it was a scam because I asked her to call me and she said ok on the text but I never received a call! So I texted her back and told her she was a scammer! I never heard from her again, plus the address I gave her was for a rental property that were apartments not a house and I knew the property management! So people should always look at the property first and make sure it’s totally legit! Do your research!!!!
SUSAN SANTIAGO
March 25, 2024
Last year, I had a friend get taken by a scammer. She saw the rental house in person and lived about an hour away. Called the published number and the fraudster wanted her to wire him $2000. I kept telling her to go back to the house and talk to neighbors. She didn't and sent the con man $2000!! Of course she lost it. DO YOUR Homework first!
Kaiser.
May 23, 2024
Not sure why you say LGB+ as it doesn't only effect them. It effects everyone.
