Rental scams and remote viewing: what to verify before you pay

How rental scams usually work

Most rental scams take one of two forms. In the first, someone copies the photos, description or virtual tour of a real listing, replaces the agent's contact details with their own and posts it on another site, so your call or email reaches the scammer. In the second, the listing is for a place that is not for rent or does not exist, often with rent well below the area or unusually good amenities.

The goal is money, personal information or both. Scammers ask for an application fee, a deposit or the first month's rent, or ask you to fill in an application with your Social Security number, a photo of your driver's license and pay stubs, which can be used to steal your identity. Some ask for screenshots of your credit score, which is a way to sign you up for a paid credit monitoring service with recurring charges.

The warning signs tend to come together: the rent is much lower than for similar homes nearby, the owner says they are abroad or cannot show the home, you are pushed to decide quickly, payment must go by wire transfer service, gift card or cryptocurrency, or the same home turns up listed for sale rather than for rent.

Check the listing and the person you are dealing with

Search the address together with the name of the owner or rental company. If the same address appears in other ads under a different owner or company, that is a sign of a scam. If a management company is named, go to the company's own website and see whether the unit is listed there. It also helps to search the person's or company's name with words such as complaint, review or scam.

For a private landlord, the city or town assessing records show who owns the property, and the FTC suggests comparing the landlord's ID with those records. A matching name is a useful check, but an ID photo sent online is easy to fake, and the records show ownership, not who is authorized to rent the unit. If the person you are dealing with is not the owner of record, ask whom they represent and in what role, for example a property management company or the owner's broker. Then contact that company or the owner through a phone number or website you have found yourself.

If the person says they are a real estate broker or salesperson, check the license status on the Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure website, and ask whether they represent the landlord. Since August 1, 2025, a broker's fee for a residential rental is paid by whoever hired the broker. If the broker was hired by the landlord, the landlord pays; you pay a broker only if you hired that broker yourself to work on your behalf. Before a lease is signed, the broker must tell you in writing who hired them, who is paying the fee and how much it is.

What a remote viewing can and cannot show

If you cannot visit, a live video call is more useful than a recorded clip, because a clip shows only what the home looked like when it was filmed. During the call, ask the person to start outside: the street sign or house number, the building entrance, the view from a window. Compare what you see with a map's street view. Inside, ask them to do ordinary things that need no tools, such as turning on lights, running a faucet and opening closet and cabinet doors, so you can see the rooms are as described.

Even a smooth live tour does not prove that the person owns the home or can rent it. The FTC notes that scammers sometimes copy listings from landlords who use self-guided tour services and send you to tour the real home, to make themselves look legitimate. A video call or a self-guided tour confirms what the home looks like; ownership, authority to rent and payment details still have to be checked separately.

The most reliable step is to have the home seen in person before you sign or pay, by you or by a friend or someone you trust in the area. If a leasing agent shows the home, ask for a business card issued by the company that owns or manages the property, and check that the agent's ID matches.

What a Massachusetts landlord can collect up front

Massachusetts law limits what a landlord, or an agent of the landlord, can require you to pay at or before the start of a tenancy to four items: rent for the first full month, rent for the last full month at the same rate, a security deposit of no more than the first month's rent, and the cost of buying and installing a new lock and key. The Attorney General's guide adds that landlords may not charge up-front application fees, pet fees or broker fees. A request for any other payment, especially before you have seen a lease, is a reason to stop and ask what it is for.

Every payment should come with a receipt. A security deposit receipt is due when the money is received, signed by the person who received it, and shows the amount, the date, that person's name and, if an agent took the money, the landlord's name, along with a description of the unit. Within 30 days the landlord must also give you a receipt naming the Massachusetts bank holding the deposit, its location, the account number and the amount. Prepaid last month's rent gets its own receipt as well. If the other side cannot say who will issue these receipts, hold off on paying.

Guard your personal information the same way. The FTC points out that until you have agreed to rent a place, a landlord does not need your Social Security number or credit score, and most landlords pull credit reports themselves rather than asking you to send one.

Read the lease before money changes hands

A lease is also a verification tool. Massachusetts requires a lease to give the name, address and phone number of the owner, of the person responsible for maintenance, and of the person to whom you can give formal notices. Compare those names with the assessing records and with whoever is asking you to pay. The unit, the term, the rent and the payment arrangements should match what you were told.

For a home built before 1978, the owner must give you the Tenant Lead Law Notification and Tenant Certification form before you enter a rental agreement, together with any existing lead inspection or risk assessment report and any Letter of Compliance or Letter of Interim Control. This applies whether or not a child under six will live there. If these papers are missing for an older home, ask for them before you sign.

The Attorney General's guide says a landlord should not rush a tenant into signing. Pressure to sign and pay within the hour, before you have read the full lease, is itself a warning sign. The guide to reading a lease goes through the clauses one by one.

Paying safely

The FTC is direct on this point: if anyone insists that you can only pay by wire transfer through a service such as Western Union or MoneyGram, by gift card or by cryptocurrency, it is a scam. Money sent these ways works like cash. Once it is gone, you probably cannot get it back.

Other methods are not automatically safe either, because the risk lies in who receives the money. The account holder should be the landlord or management company named in the lease. Before the first payment, and whenever payment instructions change, call the landlord or company at a number you found yourself, not one in the message, and confirm the account name and number. An email announcing new bank details just before you pay is a reason to stop, not to hurry.

Keep copies of the ad, the messages, the lease and every receipt, at least until the tenancy has ended and the deposit has been returned.

If something seems wrong, or you have already paid

If the person will not explain whom they represent, avoids a live viewing, or changes where the money should go shortly before you pay, stop paying and stop sending personal documents. A warning that the home will go to someone else within the hour is not a reason to skip these checks.

If you have already sent money, contact your bank or the payment service right away and ask whether the payment can be stopped or recalled. Recovery is not guaranteed, but acting quickly gives you the best chance. Then report the scam to your local police, to the website where the ad appeared, to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the Massachusetts Attorney General, whose Consumer Hotline is (617) 727-8400. Keep the ad, the messages and the payment records to support the reports.

Before you pay

Run through these points once more before any money leaves your account.

• The address, the owner of record and the person you are dealing with have been checked through sources you found yourself.
• If a broker is involved, you know whom they represent and who pays their fee.
• The home has been seen live or in person, and the lease names the owner, the maintenance contact and the person who receives notices.
• What you are asked to pay stays within first and last month's rent, a deposit of no more than one month's rent and the lock cost.
• The account holder matches the lease, and you confirmed the details by phone at a number you found yourself.
• You have a signed receipt for every payment.