Have you ever scrolled through Instagram or TikTok and suddenly stopped in your tracks because you see a beautiful apartment for rent for just $1,100 a month?
The listing seems real… because it is. The real estate agent seems legitimate… because the person is real. But only after paying the $350 “refundable” application fee do you learn the truth: It’s a scam.
“I knew it in my gut, but I double-checked everything, I looked it up, my friend checked too… it all seemed so legit,” said 28-year-old Jenny Diaz.
Earlier this year, Diaz got a new job and was ready to live on her own. Her friend sent her a post on Instagram: a video of what looked like the perfect apartment in Manhattan. The profile had over 27,000 followers, which made it look credible.
“It’s very hard to find apartments. I was using all kinds of apps, but they sell out very quickly. And then my friend alerted me to these videos she was seeing on IG of these great apartments at reasonable prices.”
What happened next, NBC News has learned, has become all too common for prospective renters across the country.
Diaz said she and her friend sent a message to the advertiser, who claimed to be a real estate agent. She shared her personal information (name, move-in date, and income) and was told that paying the $350 refundable application fee would secure her a tour. But, he said, after paying and receiving a confirmation email, follow-up messages went unanswered. That’s when reality hit.
“They stopped responding to me and my heart just skipped a beat. I knew instantly and I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
It’s a growing problem, according to the FBI. The office’s Internet Crime Reporting Center received more than 130 real estate complaints referencing social media sites, resulting in losses of approximately $600,000 in just the first five months of this year. That compares to a total of 150 complaints last year with about $1.5 million in losses.
These scams are sophisticated. Scammers use names and license numbers of real agents. If asked, they will send a doctored photo of a legitimate license or direct victims to fake company websites that look authentic, with agent photos and contact details.
After NBC News spoke with a scammer posing as a Keller Williams NYC agent and was sent this website, the company confirmed that the agent and website are not affiliated with it. The company now has a consumer alert on its website warning visitors about such schemes.
Shane Boyle of Compass is one of the dozens of real estate brokers these impostors pretend to be.
“I get a knot in my stomach seeing that. I mean, it’s horrible,” she said while browsing online profiles using her name and personal photos. “I usually get an angry phone call because they did a little Googling, got to my real account and my real number, and started interrogating me.”
Boyle showed NBC News dozens of text messages and emails from people who believed he had deceived them. On her real social media accounts, she received angry comments like: “You need to rot for what you’ve done.”
“I actually try to block that out. That’s going to make me a little emotional,” she said after reading some of the comments.
But it’s not just agents’ identities that are being hijacked: scammers are also stealing real video listings to lure potential renters.
Mike Bussey, a Compass agent who runs Real NYC Apartments with more than 125,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 50,000 followers on Instagram, regularly posts virtual apartment tours. Those are the videos that many of these scammers use along with names like Boyle’s to trick people looking for a new home.
“My mom showed me the video and said, ‘Mike, this is a good deal, I’ll rent it myself.’ And I said, ‘Mom, that’s not real.’ And she says, ‘No, this is your voice.’ This is you.” And I had to explain to him, ‘No, someone is taking my videos, putting fake prices on them, and trying to scam people.'”
In one case, a video of an apartment costing $12,000 a month was reposted on a fake profile claiming it was advertised for $1,700 a month.
“What broke my heart is that my mother is a very smart person, so she fell for this. Imagine how many other people have fallen for this, and also she had assumed that I was trying to get more business by lying. So I can’t imagine how many people have thought the same about me too,” Bussey said.
NBC News sent Meta and TikTok links to accounts on their platforms that appeared to be scams, and both companies removed those specific profiles.
TikTok told NBC News it proactively removed 97% of content that violated its phishing guidelines in the first quarter of this year. Meta says it uses manual and automated systems to block accounts that abuse the company’s standards, but that scammers are constantly changing their tactics.
Bussey has reported that more than 1,000 of his videos were posted to fake TikTok and Instagram accounts, a task that was so time-consuming that he had to hire someone to help him remove them. Boyle says he too has been reporting these scams for years, but it’s a never-ending cycle.
“Let’s say I put one down today. If I report it on any social media channel, maybe two go up the next day. So it’s like a whack-a-mole situation.”
If you’re a renter, protecting yourself starts with vigilance. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Check the market rate, never pay someone you haven’t met in person, and don’t send money for an apartment you haven’t visited.
Agents say the application fee typically won’t be more than $50. Additionally, independently verify an agent’s contact information; do not trust the ad profile. And if you are a victim, contact your bank, the platform and the FBI immediately.
