Looking to buy or rent? Local realtors warn of fake listings

There’s a housing shortage and bad actors know it. So, if you’re looking to rent or buy a home, experts warn you to be very careful.

Last week, NBC CT reporter Siobhan McGirl spoke with a Hartford woman who has spent two months searching for a place to live.

So, when she found a listing online for a home rental in her price range, she immediately sent a $100 application fee and almost sent $1,700 for a down payment only to learn the posting was fake.

Since her story aired, NBC CT Responds has heard from realtors who are frustrated after seeing this happen to their listings, too.

“Someone had impersonated a property manager that stood in front of my listing, my condo for sale, and pretended it was for lease,” said Shanyelle Young, owner of S. Young Realty & Association based out of Manchester.

She says that so-called property manager couldn’t get the hopeful renter into the building.

“So the poor person, I just felt so bad for him. He just didn’t know, and he gave him, he met him there again and gave him two money orders for $550 a piece or something like that," Young said.

Adrian Voss has experienced something similar very recently with a listing, too.

The Coldwell Banker Realty sales associate, who works out of Ridgefield, says, “It was six different people that took my photos and my information and posted it as their own.”

He posted the listing on a couple of sites including Facebook Marketplace and that’s where he says it was getting copied.

We reached out to Meta for a comment, but have not yet heard back.

He listed in at $1,500 a month, and says, “People have been offering it for $800 a month in hopes that they’ll secure a deposit from somebody before they even step foot in the apartment.”

The real rental listing was in Fairfield.

Voss shared screenshots like the one about where his pictures were used to advertise fake rentals in Bridgeport and New York.

Thankfully when Voss reported them to the site, they were taken down, but he doesn't know how many people were tricked. Voss did reach out to police.

Realtors we spoke to urge renters to take their time, read the fine print, do research or have a realtor who vets properties represent you.

Also, don’t give any money without seeing a place in person and make sure the representative can get inside the building and be wary of paying by peer-to-peer apps, too.

Here’s another tactic to spot a scam: use a search image to “reverse image search” a picture from the listing.

Do you see that picture in another listing under another name? Another price? Another town? Those are red flags.