[Cp-bulletin] FW: Informational Bulletin - Apartment Rental Scam

[Cheryl N Vossmer]

Informational Bulletin
Issued: January 22, 2013

Rental Scam
The MIT Police have been made aware of recent incidents incurred by students who are subleasing apartments at MIT Graduate dormitories.  In this scam, the potential renter would send a check to the student for a significantly larger amount over what the advertised amount was and request the overpayment be sent back to the potential renter.  In some cases the scammer, or potential renter, may tell the student to keep the extra money for the inconvenience.  Unfortunately the check does not have the funds to cover it and is now fraudulent resulting in the sublicensor/student to be out of the entire amount of the original check.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/privacy_security/fraud/operate/scams

According to Wells Fargo
Tips: If you are selling an item or renting property, never accept a check for more than the purchase or rental amount. Scammers can make fraudulent cashier's checks look authentic and rely upon unsuspecting sellers to trust that a cashier's check must be legitimate. You can contact the bank on which a cashier's check is drawn to verify its legitimacy or ask your own bank to help you.


The Cambridge Police site has the following crime prevention tip:
http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpd/communityresources/CrimePrevention/craigslistscams.aspx

CraigsList Rental Scams

Are you in the market for a new place to live and dealing with a realtor seems to be out of the question?  Where do you turn?  A lot of people think that Craigslist holds many great opportunities for low cost rental properties.

But before you begin your search or sign on the dotted line, be aware that there are many unscrupulous people using Craigslist, posing as rental agents, just to get your personal and financial information.

The number of fake rental scams on Craigslist and other online classifieds continues to grow, with new aliases appearing daily. But while the names may change, the methods are always the same.  Don't believe these ads appear only on Craigslist.  They could show up anywhere!

These thieves, mainly based in Nigeria, the U.K. and the U.S., are out to steal your money and your identity.  However, the scammers could be in your own back yard.

The Better Business Bureau advises to be on the lookout for the following for avoiding Craigslist apartment rental scams:

  *   The email addresses they use usually are from yahoo, ymail, rocketmail, fastermail, live, hotmail and gmail, and they also post ads under anonymous craigslist addresses. They frequently change their aliases.
  *   The deal sounds too good to be true. Scammers will often list a rental for a very low price to lure in victims. Find out how comparable listings are priced, and if the rental comes in suspiciously low, walk away.
  *   They use photos stolen from other property advertisements or from home furnishing catalogues or hotel websites.
  *   They use fake names, often stolen from Facebook profiles or networking sites. Often they assume the identities of previous victims.
  *   What they all have in common is that sooner or later you get a request to transfer funds via Western Union, Moneygram or some other wire service.
  *   Never under any circumstances, wire money at the request of any prospective "landlord" via Western Union, Money Gram or any other wire service.  Even if they tell you to wire the funds to a friend or relative's name "to be safe," it's a trap!
  *   Always check bbb.org to see if the "company" has any complaints.

For more tips, visit the Better Business Bureau<http://atlanta.bbb.org/article/bbb-tips-on-avoiding-craigslist-apartment-rental-scams-29364>.

There are lots of resources available about scams. Please be aware of the potential for these types of get rich quick scams. Here are a few resources for you to utilize:
http://housing.mit.edu/graduatefamily/sublicense_center

http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-resources/consumer-information/

http://www.ic3.gov/preventiontips.aspx

https://www.wellsfargo.com/privacy_security/fraud/operate/scams

If you have been the victim of a crime please notify the MIT Police at 617-253-1212, or your local police department, if you do not live on campus.


Issued by:
Sgt. Cheryl Vossmer
MIT Police           617-253-1212
301 Vassar St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/cp-bulletin/attachments/20130123/3fdc161d/attachment-0001.htm