How big a problem are online rental scams in Bellingham, and how can you avoid them?
It’s every renter’s nightmare: In the mad dash for housing, you hand over money or personal information to secure an apartment, only to realize too late that it’s not a legitimate listing.
These sorts of scams have been on the rise in Bellingham with the increasing popularity of websites such as Craigslist, Bellingham Police Department Lt. Claudia Murphy told The Bellingham Herald. It’s difficult for the police department to come up with more specific data on trends because of the way it categorizes incidents — rental scams could fall under several different categories.
However, when Murphy used the search term “Craigslist” in the department’s incident database, she identified 14 cases related to rental scams so far this year. She identified 22 cases related to rental scams in 2020 resulting in a total loss of $23,190, 11 in 2019 resulting in a total loss of $9,200 and seven in 2018 resulting in a loss of $1,900.
Although these numbers are likely not a completely accurate representation of rental scams in Bellingham, they indicate a definite increase in incidents during the pandemic.
“Craigslist is only the tip of the iceberg,” Murphy said. “It’s probably on Reddit and many other places.”
Murphy highlighted that rental scams are likely “highly underreported” because people are embarrassed or assume there is nothing the police department can do to get their money back.
In one February incident, Murphy said, an individual found what they thought was a fully furnished apartment on Craigslist. The listing included all the information of a property manager, and the individual scheduled a meeting and paid the person who met them with a $2,400 down payment. It turned out to be a scam, and the person lost all their money.
The highest amount lost in a reported Craigslist rental scam incident this year was $4,800, Murphy said.
Some of the reports she reviewed were not from potential tenants but from current inhabitants of a house who were getting calls from people interested in renting the unit, even though it wasn’t available. That likely means a scammer is using the address and images of the property to trick others.
Once money is exchanged, it’s very difficult for the police to do anything to mitigate the damage, Murphy explained.
“People who place ads on Craigslist for houses here don’t live here,” Murphy said. “There’s very little we can do to track them down.”
That’s why prevention is so important.
Murphy recommends that prospective tenants do their “homework” before handing over any money or personal information, such as a Social Security Number. Murphy recommends working through an established property management company, although she acknowledges there can be legitimate listings on sites such as Craigslist.
Some scam listings can seem extremely legitimate online, with full names, phone numbers and addresses, said Emma Lawrence, who works at Bellingham-based Windermere Property Management. That’s why Lawrence recommends always contacting the property management company to ask about the unit via email and the phone number on its official website, rather than the information listed on a third-party website, such as Facebook or Craigslist.
You don’t owe a landlord any payment or information until you’ve seen the unit in person, Murphy said.
“There’s no possible way that you need to do that,” she said. “You don’t have to pay a deposit before seeing an apartment no matter how competitive the market is. That is absolutely a scam.”
If you do get scammed or are suspicious of a listing, Murphy urges reporting it to the police department. While it is difficult to recover money or personal information, it allows officers to understand when and how these scams occur. That sort of data pushes companies such as Craigslist to make improvements to their services.
“We can’t investigate a company doing the fraud in India,” Murphy said. “But we still need people to report the fraud so we know that it’s happening.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
