Many tenants are still deceived by fraudsters who rent houses they do not even own. Isaac Aviles thought he had found a bargain to rent a house in Orlando: a three-bedroom house with two bathrooms in Meadow Woods for $1,200 a month.
19-year-old Aviles did not meet with the landlord, the transaction was made over the phone. He made a deposit of $500 and paid his rent through apps such as Zelle and CashApp, except once when he was asked to pay with Apple gift cards. It turned out later that the house was still for rent because it featured a sign to this effect.
Aviles has been the victim of rent fraud, where someone is posing as a landlord on the Internet and tricks their victim into paying them until the real owners find out.
“It’s pretty common here,” said Jay Mobley, Senior Housing and Consumer Debt Advocate, Orange County Legal Aid Society. “If I’m talking about fraud, it’s always in my top three.”
Fraudulent ads are often found on sites such as Facebook or Craigslist. Aviles contacted the supposed landlord by the phone number listed in the Zillow ad. On this website, any user can claim a house that does not have another registered owner, with minimum information. Hayley Mills, a spokesperson for the website, has declared in a written statement that the company now uses techniques to identify possible fraudulent individuals and remove fraudulent ads.