Emily Chan
In this day and age of a competitive housing market, real estate scams are sadly at an all-time high. Scam artists often take advantage of unsuspecting renters by tricking them into paying for properties that don’t exist or advertising false information.
That is what happened to Austin Wallace (@_austin_wallace_), who lost $1,000 when he unknowingly tried to rent an apartment from a scammer.
In a viral video on TikTok, Austin had decided to move to New York, and he was feeling upbeat and positive about it. Things were looking up since he was able to get an Airbnb. But his excitement plummeted when he realized the situation he was in.
Austin documented the exact moment he arrived at the apartment and discovered that it was already occupied, much to his disappointment. In the clip, Jocelyn, the leasing agent, questioned the girl in the apartment.
The girl called the renter, her cousin, who had happened to be out, and they feigned ignorance to what was going on. According to Jocelyn, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, so as a result, the renters are getting kicked out.
“They’ve been doing this for a long time already, and they’re getting locked out as of Monday. How are you Airbnbing something you’re renting?” Jocelyn said.
This kind of fraudulent activity is so commonplace in NYC that the city’s attorney general released a statement warning people of rental scams and provided some advice for renters to adhere to in order to avoid getting scammed.
Here are some of Attorney General’s recommendations:
First, make sure to verify the host’s address and phone number. Also, read the reviews for the listing. If a listing does not have any reviews, that’s a red flag. But if there are several reviews that repeat the same phrasing, it’s possible those reviews could be fake.
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