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Consumer Alert – Fraudulent Apartments.com Emails Recently Apartments.com has received reports of emails appearing to be sent by us stating that we have a “purchase protection” or “escrow” service to facilitate leasing transactions. These emails are fraudulent! Sending any money in response to these emails will almost always result in your losing all of it. The best thing to do if you receive one of these emails is to delete it and not reply to the sender. Under no circumstances should you ever wire money without meeting the landlord in person and physically inspecting the apartment and lease documentation. Apartments.com does not have any sort of escrow or payment protection program nor do we participate in the transaction in any way. Apartments.com never processes rents, deposits, or lease transactions directly. All transactions are between you and the landlord. Any email or individual stating otherwise is attempting to scam you. You may encounter one of these fraudulent emails after responding to an ad on Craigslist, Apartments.com, Rent.com, or other online rental listing services. Typically, the apartments are advertised at significantly below market values in order to garner interest. Remember, if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Below are some items to watch for in recognizing scams:
See below for an example email. Note that the actual appearance of the email may change, but the fact remains: Apartments.com does NOT participate in collecting rent payments or deposits, nor do we guarantee any transaction. For more information, see our fraud alert. If you have any questions, please write to us at feedback@apartments.com. To report the fraudulent email, please file a report at the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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