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Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

jeffreyladish.com

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Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#111

Post by pbhjpbhj »

craze3 wrote: post #68
mdani wrote: post #67

In the reply, I'd probably include 1x1 pixel hidden tracker image or maybe a legit looking logo below signature and get the client ip of the scammer's computer when it does http GET on it. The ip can tell more about where they're located.

This is a great idea, but if he's gone through all this trouble already, then he's probably behind a proxy or VPN...

Reverse Captcha? Send an image, ask them to email you at the address in the image -- at that point their handlers will likely decide you're too much trouble and you'll be ghosted.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#112

Post by jaclaz »

cissou wrote: post #11

What I'm left wondering is: what is the payoff for these scams? These aren't easy to scale, as you need to be manually writing plausible looking, personalized emails, waiting for someone to take the bait, "nurture" them over days or weeks, etc. Also you need specific, valuable skills: between the social engineering, the actual engineering, the perfect grammar, the creativity, someone who can pull this off can definit…

You may have to consider that there are not-so-few countries where a monthly wage of 500-1000 US$ for a good, honest job is the norm or possibly even a good wage, if the scammer can make 1 of these per year he/she is on par with what other people get, if he/she can make 2 of these per year it is more than enough.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#114

Post by Cthulhu_ »

seshagiric wrote: post #74
jameslk wrote: post #69

From the screenshot, the scam is actually pretty easy to spot if you know what to look for. Here's some clues: 1. All accomodations are available (w/d in unit, pets ok, wheelchair accessible, furnished!) - eliminating listings with all of these checked will nearly eliminate the scam listings. 2. The description doesn't include any information about who's the renter. Usually the landlord or property manager will menti…

Zillow also has lot of such scams, when I reported them unfortunately Zillow did nothing! Anyhow, the single most significant indicator of all rental scam is that the perpetuator is not going to show you the apartment in person.

> Anyhow, the single most significant indicator of all rental scam is that the perpetuator is not going to show you the apartment in person.

Yup; never rent a house long-term without seeing it for yourself and meeting the landlord in person. Never sign anything sight unseen. And don't click on links in email.

Interesting that the scammer asked the author to search on airbnb themselves; that's what I'd do to avoid following a scam link. But if the house is not found, the victim will ASK for a link, increasing the chances they'll click on it by over 9000. And if the victim doesn't trust it, they'll just bail out - like with the poorly written emails, a good way to filter out victims.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#115

Post by eru »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #108
mschuster91 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because waiting for the property value to increase over a year or two and then deducting paying the loan rate/interest over the time is more profitable. Classic perverse incentive, the only way to fix this is a drastic vacancy tax.

> then deducting paying the loan rate/interest over the time is more profitable. What does this have to do with not renting the apartment? Any business will deduct interest payments as a business expense.

And a vacancy tax isn't a good idea either. (Though it's better than the UK's tax rebate for vacancy.)

Just use a land value tax.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#116

Post by eru »

hobofan wrote: post #102
rmtech wrote: post #99

It's pretty amazing that modern browsers don't flag .com. as a scam. Is there any legitimate use for addresses like this? It's also amazing that email software doesn't highlight fake link texts. There should be a rule that if the text looks like a URL then the actual URL has to match it exactly.

I was under the impression that in quite a few countries they are quite widely used. E.g. .com.au in Australia.

Or .com.sg or .co.uk

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#117

Post by pnutjam »

uberduber wrote: post #103
seshagiric wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zillow also has lot of such scams, when I reported them unfortunately Zillow did nothing! Anyhow, the single most significant indicator of all rental scam is that the perpetuator is not going to show you the apartment in person.

They have rental scams here where they will show you the house as well. One is where they pretend to be realtors and get the key from the listing agent.

I usually look up the tax records of the house. They are usually available on the county website and will show the owners name and when the house was last sold.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#118

Post by robpal »

A similar, though less sophisticated, scam has been around in France for over a decade. They put ads with professional photos on websites with rental offers (the price is good, almost too good to be true but you're desperate for a place to live and think that maybe, just maybe, you got very lucky), talk to you in polite and agreeable manner, offer a visit and then demand a downpayment before the actual visit occurs. The red flag was that they demanded a scan of ID before the meeting (the landlord cannot ask for it beforehand) and of course the downpayment request. I searched online after that and found out it's been around for a looong time. Be careful who you're paying!

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#119

Post by bluGill »

uoaei wrote: post #92
alteria wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw a 1 bedroom for $4,700 in the Peninsula recently, which explains why that complex has so many 1BR available.

And somehow, that's still the profitable option and not actually filling the apartment.

The problem is if they have some renters at the high price it is better to say they have tenants coming (even though they never arrive) than rent for cheaper and risk the old tenants find out the price is lower and they demand a reduced rate. Now add in a bank who is auditing your books: if you have some empty units "almost rented" that looks better than full units but you are not making enough on rent to pay the mortgage - even though either way you are not making enough in rent to pay the bills.

Re: Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

#120

Post by bluGill »

jaclaz wrote: post #110
gambiting wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF is just another world to me, whenever I read about salaries or rent, it might as well be on Mars. We just bought our first home(3 bed, double drive, large garden) in a large UK city and the mortgage is £580/month(~$750 for you Americans). And it's not like we're poorly paid either, we both drive brand new cars, go on holidays twice a year etc etc. And then you get SF residents being paid well into 6 figures and un…

>And then you get SF residents being paid well into 6 figures and unable to have a decent standard of living. It's just crazy to me. To be more accurate, it is only a subset of SF residents (in the IT space) that get that kind of pay, I often wonder how is the life of those that do not belong to that elite and that do not make that kind of 6 figures money.

They don't live in SF. It isn't unheard of to commute two hours for a retail job in SF just to get where you can afford the rent.
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