How I Was Scammed Trying to Find a House to Rent

We are in the middle of a pretty big move, selling our house and trying to find another home in another part of the state.

In a moment of panic, maybe desperation, we decided to consider looking at rental homes for a short-term solution. We needed a place to live, and the only requirements we had were ok rated schools, budget, and distance from my husband’s new work.

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In 2012, when my husband and I first got married, we scored a deal on a back unit of a duplex in Old Towne Orange. Guess where we found the listing? Craigslist. The landlords were this older couple, and we rented the home for three years.

So when we started looking for a new rental in 2022, I thought Craigslist was an option. I knew there were scams, but I thought I could spot them quickly. Boy, I was wrong.

Craigslist has become a pool of scams. There are so many fake listings for rental homes I don’t even know if I would tell someone to look for a rental on Craiglist, let alone use it for other things.

For the embarrassing part of the story, the rental house scam almost happened to me three times.

The first home was a listing for a two-story, 2,000 square feet home in Fullerton, California. I emailed the listing creator for more info, and in their reply, it said they were trying to sell it but decided to put it up for rent instead. The owner, Paul, said that he was a missionary and living in a different state. He wanted to find a lovely family to rent his house to cover his mortgage until he got home. I was like perfect. We’re only planning on renting for a little bit anyway. I was about to put in an application when I felt weird about the whole situation. While it was in our budget, the house was pretty far from my husband’s office. I ended up ghosting him, but it was a scam, I am pretty sure.

The second home I expressed interest in was a cute bungalow in the Old Towne Orange area for $2,800 a month. I dreamed about living in this house while I gathered information from Eric, the landlord. While $2,800 is a lower-than-average rent for the area, the price didn’t raise any flags. We just thought it was a good deal. We had found a good deal before. A lot felt off about all the communications I had with Eric, but I was desperate and willing to ignore the red flags.

I sent Eric $100 for the application fee through Cash App, and he sent me a link to an application online. I should have stopped pursuing it there. The application was one of those Typeform apps. It seemed odd, but I had used those forms to apply to jobs or freelance positions in the past.

The application was simple, yet it didn’t ask for social security numbers or employment verification. The form asked if we could make the monthly payments of $2800. I thought it was weird, but I figured it might be a pre-application, and I would ask about it the following day.

Around 10 am the following day; however, I received a text message stating that Eric and his wife approved our application. We would need to send a deposit and sign the lease to secure the rental since they had a bunch of applicants.

The rental lease agreement was the first big red flag for me. We sent the documents over to my father-in-law, a landlord of two properties. He told us that his lease agreement for his rentals was fourteen pages long compared to the four pages Eric had sent me. There were a lot of questions after reading the lease agreement. We could use any of his furniture while we lived there, and Eric would pay for all utilities, including electric.

My father-in-law asked us if this could be a scam. Something felt weird to him too. I started googling Eric’s name and found his LinkedIn, Instagram, his wife’s Instagram, and his company’s Facebook page. At least this guy is a real person, and he looks cool. Maybe he and his wife want to be friends?

Since we were up in Fresno and Eric’s house was in the city of Orange, we decided to set up a call to go over the agreement and when we could visit the house. As soon as we heard Eric’s voice come through my phone, we were immediately suspicious, and Eric didn’t answer any questions we asked about the rental. Instead, he responded with a defensive tone, saying that we had said we loved the house and that we needed to send the money via cash app if we wanted to rent. My husband tried to interrupt to say we needed to meet in person and see the inside of the house. Eric again got defensive and said there were current renters, and they were not to be disturbed. I finally spoke up and asked, what if we send some of the money and plan to meet for coffee near the house. He agreed and told me to send three payments via the cash app, two payments of $800 and one amount of $200. At this point, I just wanted to get off the phone, so I said I could do that and hung up.

I immediately went to look Eric up on social media again to try and find a video of him talking. Eventually, I found a wedding video posted on his wife’s Instagram and heard his voice. It was nowhere close to the man’s voice we talked to on the phone. But, yes, Eric was a real guy who did own the house we thought we might rent. While researching Eric, I had accidentally called a number on a business page, but it had gone to voicemail at that time.

I next looked up the house on Redfin, and all the photos that “not-Eric” sent me were on the page. I decided to give the realtor who sold the house last a call to confirm with her that this house was not for rent.

I said, “I have the weirdest question ever. Do you know if a house you sold (enter street address) is for rent?”

The realtor replied, “Eric is a friend, and no, they aren’t renting it out. It’s their primary residence.”

I was satisfied with the relator’s answer, said thank you, and asked if she had any tips for looking for rentals. She did not say Craigslist.

Next, I blocked the number “not Eric” was texting and calling me on and went on my way. When I checked my email, I found a new email from “not Eric.”

After I replied to his email, “not Eric’s” wife texted me:

Whoever was pretending to be Eric seemed desperate to get my deposit. As I felt defeated and taken advantage of, I hoped that “not Eric” wasn’t being taken advantage of either. Damn empathy.

And then, a couple of hours later, I got this text from the number I accidentally called earlier. (I deleted the message and can’t find a screenshot):

Them: I got a call from this number. Who is this?

Me: Oh, I’m sorry, I accidentally called you. Are you an owner of (enter business)?

Them: Yes, but how did you get this number?

Me: I was on the Facebook page, and this is the number listed. But I do have a question, do you know the owners of (enter street address) and if they are renting it out?

The number replies by calling me. It’s the real Eric’s wife, and I am not the first person she has spoken to about this fake rental listing on Craigslist. I tell her everything I know and hope that “not Eric” stops using their house to scam more people.

We hang up, and at that moment, I’m ready to cry because another “landlord” is trying to get us to rent their townhome in Irvine, CA, and wants me to send them money to secure the home. I sent the landlord, known as Paul, one text message. Because of the response, I blocked Paul right away.

After hours wasted on fake rental properties, filling out fake rental applications, feeling emotionally drained, and losing $100, we are back to pursuing a house to buy. Wish us luck, and don’t get scammed.