Did you know rental scams are a common occurrence, not only here in Michigan but across the nation?

Realcomp hears about these scams from MLS Subscribers, which usually involve an active or pending listing fraudulently advertised on another website (i.e., Craigslist, Facebook, etc.) at an attractive below-market rental price.

Sometimes MLS subscribers discover the fraudulent posts when they are performing Internet searches themselves. Other times they are contacted by a consumer who wants to know more about the property that is “both for sale and for rent”. Sometimes, subscribers are contacted by a frantic consumer who believes they rented the property (sight unseen), paid the 1st and last month rents by mail to the “owner”, and still needs to pick up the key. The scenarios vary, but one thing they all have in common is an unscrupulous individual or a group that is using your listing data to lure unsuspecting consumers into their scam in order to make a buck.

Although there is no magic bullet for resolving this issue, we do have some recommendations for any REALTOR^® who would like to see these kinds of scams fail. They are as follows:

• Run an Internet search on the property address of your listing. Review your listings on these websites and see how the property information is displayed. Is the data displaying correctly? Are you listed as the contact? Is this site even authorized to display your listing information? If not, flag or request that the listing be removed immediately due to being fraudulently advertised.
• Setup a Google alert on the address of your listing to stay abreast of any fraudulent use of the listing data. You will be notified by Google anytime the property address is added to a website and discovered through their search bots. You only need to do this once. You might even recommend that your sellers take this task on.
• Update your marketing materials to help educate consumers on Internet rental scams. Consumers should always do their due diligence before sending money electronically or otherwise for the purchase or rental of real estate. When it comes to rentals, they should also be encouraged by the adage; "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is", which is still good advice today.

If you have any questions or suggestions for Realcomp on this matter, please let us know. You can reach us at support@realcomp.com. Thank you.