Note: ShowMojo has made this article available because we believe it contains information valuable to all property managers and owners. We recognize there are references to specific ShowMojo features, and we did include these to assist our user base. However, we believe that non-ShowMojo-users reading the article can readily envision how they might take similar actions in their own leasing environments -- to everyone's benefit.
The rise of the Internet and mobile devices have created many opportunities for efficiency in the property management world. But these changes have also created some new challenges as well.
One of the longest-standing challenges has been the online listing scammer. This individual finds a listing for rent online (or recently for rent online) and posts an advertisement for that property. Historically this happened on Craigslist. But now Facebook Marketplace seems to be scammer ground zero.
The scammer’s goal is pretty straightforward. They want to collect an application fee, a security deposit, and a month or two of rent if they can — then skedaddle away with the renter’s money. The collateral damage is a small tragedy for the renter -- and a major headache for the property manager.
This is an old scam that’s been around for a good 10 years. Scammers have been successful at executing the scam even when prospects cannot enter the property. The scammer just tells the prospect that they are out of town and the prospect should walk by the home. Usually, the scammer offers to give the prospect a great deal on rent.
A newer version of this scam is being perpetrated against lockbox-based self-show rentals. We discuss those issues in our: Defend Your Company Against Self-Show Opportunists article.
What ShowMojo Does
ShowMojo does provide one built-in defense against this type of scofflaw — automated photo watermarking. This feature comes in two flavors:
- When at low risk: you can configure ShowMojo to watermark photos for third-party sites — including Craigslist.
- When at high risk: You should configure ShowMojo to watermark all photos.
ShowMojo’s watermarking is highly configurable and can unobtrusively cover a good amount of the photo — making these photos (and your listing) unappealing to scammers.
ShowMojo also aggressively screens all new ShowMojo accounts to confirm their legitimacy. It might be only one portion of the entire rental landscape, but we certainly don’t want any scammers on our platform.
What You Can Proactively Do
Add signs to each property that clearly identify your company, your website, and your company phone number. Ideally these signs (including contact information) should be visible from the street.
If a property sign disappears, treat this as an indicator that you might be at risk. Online listing scammers are known to reside anywhere — including in your very neighborhood.
What to Do When You Are at Risk
After you've completed the above activities, double-back to your signs:
- Ensure the sign in each property is easily visible from the street. Add temporary signage if necessary.
- Add specific leasing language — possibly as a sign rider — such as “To lease this or any of our homes call 555-555-1212.” Or perhaps “Exclusively for lease by Big Deal Property Management.”
If you are aware of an active scammer, search listing sites to identify the scam posts. Flag the listings as spam and contact those sites.
Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace are the preferred tools for online listing scammers. This means you should periodically:
- Search Craigslist and Facebook for a sampling of your listing addresses.
- Search Craigslist and Facebook for your company name, or variations of it.
- View the Craigslist map for listings in your specific areas to confirm there are no photos of your properties.
If you believe the scammer is local, or otherwise specifically targeting your area, then raise the issue to your local NARPM, NAA, or other association chapter. If more local property managers take an at-risk stance, the scammer could grow frustrated with the entire area. Even better -- though unlikely -- the scammer could be caught.
And keep in mind two important things about online listing scams:
- They are being perpetrated without the prospect ever entering the property. So no action taken within the property will help.
- Because the prospect does not need to enter the property, your occupied listings can be targeted just like your on-market listings.