Apartment Rental Scam PSA

“Dear PoPville,

Just wanted to give a heads up that there is a fairly active apartment scammer on the DC Craigslist. They seem to be borderline psychopathic in their approach. They list an actual local property as a local real estate agent. Both the property and the real estate agent exist. They even go so far as to look up the real estate agent’s local license ID and the property owner information.

The red flags are pretty apparent, like them requesting a “deposit” upfront to lock in the lease before viewing. I spent the last few weeks toying with the scammer a bit before they ghosted me (understandable).

I just saw the same ad I originally responded to go back up, and figured your readers might benefit from being aware of this scam and spread the word.

I’ve attached a screenshot of the CL ad as well as the huge red flag in the “lease”:

“ARTICLE V: DEPOSIT AGREEMENT: I NANCY XXXXXXXXXXXX TRUSTEE & AARON XXXXXXXX (Landlord), MARY XXXXXXX (PROPERTY MANAGER) agrees with _______________ (Tenant) that the first month’s rent of $2800 and the security deposit of $2800 was paid prior to viewing, if for any reason tenant does not like or find the apartment not in perfect condition as advertised after viewing, tenant can terminate this agreement and the full deposit payment of $5600 will be refunded immediately on the spot.””