Avoiding Rental Scams
Scammers target exactly the renters this site serves — people who need affordable housing fast. Slow down for sixty seconds and they lose.
How the common scams work
The classic St. Louis version: a scammer copies photos from a real listing, relists the home on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist at a too-good price, and invents a reason you can’t see inside — they’re out of state, it’s tenant-occupied, the lockbox is broken. Then comes the ask: a deposit or “holding fee” by Cash App, Zelle, wire, or gift card, before any lease is signed. A second version charges repeated “application fees” for apartments that were never available. A third rents you a property the “landlord” doesn’t own — you find out when the real owner shows up.
Red flags, in order of reliability
Payment by app, wire, or gift card before a signed lease is the single strongest tell — legitimate offices take checks, money orders, or portal payments tied to a lease. Others: rent far below the going rate (in North County, a “$500 two-bedroom house” is bait — real 2BRs run $800+), a landlord who can’t or won’t meet at the property, pressure to commit today, a “landlord” who asks for your ID and bank details before you’ve seen anything, and listings whose photos look professionally staged while the price says otherwise.
The 60-second checks
Search the address — the same photos under a different price or manager means someone’s lying. Check who owns the property on the St. Louis County parcel lookup (free, public) and compare it to the name you’re dealing with. Call the management company through the number on its own website, not the one in the ad. And never send money for a unit you haven’t seen inside, in person or by live video walkthrough with the keys in the door.
If you’ve been hit
Report it to the FTC (reportfraud.ftc.gov), the Missouri Attorney General’s consumer protection division, and the platform that hosted the ad. If you paid by card or bank transfer, call your bank immediately — speed matters for reversals.