We have a resident that is scamming people on social media and craigslist by advertising a one bedroom apartment

Looking for help if anyone has dealt with this before - we have a resident that is scamming people on social media and craigslist by advertising a one bedroom apartment (using our photos from website), there have been a handful of people that have paid him $800-$1200 and then go to move in and the keys don't work and they are coming to our leasing office. The police are aware but nothing has been done since Covid-19 started, I guess it is not a priority. I don't know all the details. Anyway, I tried finding his posts on Facebook, joined the groups where he was posting but I have not been able to locate any of the posts. Do you know if I can report to Facebook somehow? and Craigslist? or any suggestions? Thank you in advance!

Place said residents’ cell phone number on the Missed Connections portion of Craig’s List with any caption you choose!

We had someone doing Airb&b out of one of our units, scamming people saying the location was somewhere else. I had to go to court and evict the person. But before I did that I had the victims file a police report and a small claims suit. I also found the post online and brought all that documentation with me to the eviction hearing. Eviction was granted and we had the person escorted out the next day with a writ of ejection.

We are currently in process of eviction

I recently read about same thing with Airbnb... you can be on site, look up all listings in area (leave date range blank and even those currently sublet will pop up. (Maybe that’s where he/she is advertising?)

Report her to authorities

This has been done already

Our leases have a no subletting clause. Check your lease. And yes you should be able to report to Facebook and Craigslist.

Yes our lease has this clause and I am unable to report because I can't actually locate the posts

Rachel Vidovich maybe he has you blocked on FB. Have a third party locate the post maybe?

You can flag on Craigslist. You can also register your property with Google and if anyone tries using ur address it will notify you.

I am unable to find the posts on Facebook or Craigslist. I think he only puts up for a short period of time and then deletes. And I already am registered with Google Business. I am not sure he posts the address just the town and state and everything else is done in private message.

Hmm I wonder if because he lists his apartment, it would be considered operating a business out of the apartment which might be prohibited in the lease... 7day him ????

That’s crazy! One time I had someone hack into a residents email and somehow (no idea how) intercepted our email conversation and responded on my behalf telling her to go make her rent payment at Walmart. She made the payment at Walmart and the police never “tracked” the person down... Literally $1500 down the drain and I didn’t even know what to tell her.

Is it on Airbnb or Homeaway?

Terminate the lease. There will be some verbiage that can be used. Non-renew, obviously.

Call your lawyer! I bet this is a reason you could evict. We have a no subleasing addendum

I reported someone a few weeks ago to Facebook for trying to sublet his apartment and using our photos etc... after I reported him I could no longer see the ad so I thought FB had taken it down but it was only blocked from my view. Others including my staff could still see the ads. So basically even though I reported it FBs solution was just to hide it from the one reporting it. Ugh

It happened to us!!! A couple people actually paid a deposit and called me about move in. I told them I'm sorry, you've been scammed. People need to do their home work when in Craigslist....

Yes this is what has happened to three people! He even meets them and gives them a key then when they go to move in and the key doesn't work they come to the office.

Rachel Vidovich wow, it hasn't gone that far for any of my residents. That's terrible!

Yes you can complain to Facebook but I’ve never had them do anything about any of the complaints I made. The people who came in might have his Facebook information or how they found out about the place so I might go that route. The other thing I have done in the past - just put a notification on Facebook that somebody is using our advertising and subletting apartments to scam people and that if they’re really interested they should come directly or call directly to the leasing center.

Hey Donna Keegan! I asked the manager to see if she could ask the victims to pull up communication on facebook but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. I will post on the property page, that is a good idea. Thanks! Hope all is well with you!

Call your local tv station. Mine came out and did a story

Sounds like the resident may have you blocked. I would make a fake Facebook page to report to the admins in the groups and the post. I'd also start checking Air BNB to make sure they're not posting on there as well.

It is possible that the scammer is using that address and photos and isn’t the person residing in that unit. There needs to be proof that this scammer is indeed your renter and not a victim of a crime. Have you asked for and received any contact info from those who were scammed? Did you encourage them to file a police report and give you a copy? I think that until you can prove it is the tenant that is scamming people, you can only file reports and encourage those that were scammed to do the same and keep an eye out. As mentioned already, use a different FB account to search in case they have blocked you. Another thing I recommend doing anyway is to set up alerts on Google to notify you if anything that names your property, the addresses within your property, etc. you want to know if someone is mentioning your property publicly to be able to monitor and follow up on negative things being posted. Also, watermark your photos with your phone number so people can’t pull the photos and use them in malicious ways.

If you really believe it is the tenant but can’t prove it, possibly find another reason to legitimately end their lease. Consider that their unit may not be maintained sufficiently, they may have moved in unauthorized people or pets, altered the unit without authorization. And best of all, if that unit needs significant rehabilitation, you can regain possession of the unit for the purposes of rehabilitation, possibly.

Good luck in finding the culprit! Properties are hijacked all the time by scammers and my property has been subject to it multiple times.