San Francisco Renter Reveals the Elaborate Scam That Cost Him $18K

As more home renting and buying processes move online and fraudsters become more sophisticated, some potential tenants can find themselves in nightmarish situations.For one San Francisco resident, that nightmare was the loss of over $18,000.Alvin Tran, a product designer for a local startup, came across identical listings for an apartment in the city’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood on Zillow and Craigslist. After reaching out to the seller on both platforms, the contact from Craigslist responded, inviting Tran to an open house. Because the listings on Zillow and Craigslist were identical, including the same images, Tran believed the seller had simply cross-posted the listing to both platforms. However, the man he was speaking to from the Craigslist listing was merely impersonating the property owner.“I’ve been in San Francisco for five years, and I’ve moved around a few different apartments. I’ve actually found two apartments in San Francisco from Craigslist, so that’s why I thought that Craigslist is pretty legit and why I was OK looking up apartments on there this time around,” Tran tells Realtor.com®. At the open house, Tran met the legitimate property owner. However, because he ...