Ever scroll through Instagram or TikTok and suddenly stop in your tracks because you see a beautiful apartment for rent for only $1,100 a month?
The listing looks real … because it is. The real estate agent appears legitimate … because the person is real. But it’s only after you pay the “refundable” $350 application fee that you learn the truth: It’s a scam.
“I knew it in my gut but I double checked everything, looked him up, my friend checked too … it all seemed so legitimate,” Jenny Diaz, 28, said.
Earlier this year, Diaz landed a new job and was ready to live on her own. Her friend sent her an Instagram post — a video of what looked like the perfect Manhattan apartment. The profile had more than 27,000 followers, making it feel credible.
“It’s so hard to find apartments. I was using all sorts of apps but they get taken so quickly. And then my friend alerted me to these videos she was seeing on IG of these great apartments for reasonable prices.”
What happened next, NBC News learned, has become all too common for prospective renters across the country.
Diaz said she and her friend messaged the poster, 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, she said, after she paid and received a confirmation email, follow-up messages went unanswered. That’s when reality hit.
“They stopped responding to me and my heart just dropped. I knew it instantly and I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
It’s a growing problem, according to the FBI. The bureau’s internet crime complaint center received more than 130 real estate complaints referencing social media sites, with losses of approximately $600,000 in just the first five months of this year. That’s compared to a total of 150 complaints last year with about $1.5 million in losses.
These scams are sophisticated. Fraudsters use real agents’ names and license numbers. If questioned, they’ll send a doctored photo of a legitimate license or direct victims to fake company websites that look authentic, complete with agent photos and contact details.
After NBC News spoke with a scammer posing as an agent for Keller Williams NYC and 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 of such schemes.
Compass’ Shane Boyle is one of the dozens of real estate brokers who these imposters are pretending to be.
“I have a pit in my stomach looking at that. I mean, it’s horrible,” he said as he scrolled through online profiles using his name and personal photos. “Usually, I’m getting the angry phone call because they’ve done a little bit of Googling, and they’ve got then to my real account and to my real number, and they’ll start questioning me.”
Boyle showed NBC News dozens of texts and emails from people who believed he deceived them. On his real social media accounts, he’s received furious comments such as, “You need to rot for what you’ve done.”
“I try to block that out, actually. That’s gonna get me a bit emotional,” he said after reading through some of the comments.
But it’s not just agents’ identities being hijacked — scammers are also stealing real video listings to lure in prospective renters.
Mike Bussey, a Compass agent who runs Real NYC Apartments with more than 125,000 TikTok followers and nearly 50,000 Instagram followers, regularly posts virtual apartment tours. Those are the videos many of these scammers are using alongside names like Boyle’s to deceive people looking for a new home.
“My mother had shown me the video and gone, ‘Mike, this is such a good deal, I’ll rent it myself.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, that’s not real.’ And she goes, ‘No, this is your voice. This is you.’ And I had to explain to her, ‘No, somebody is taking my videos, putting fake prices on them, and trying to scam people.’”
In one case, a video of a $12,000-a-month apartment was reposted on a fake profile claiming it was being listed for $1,700 a month.
“The thing that broke my heart is my mother’s a very intelligent 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 drum up more business by lying. So I can’t imagine how many people have thought that of me as well,” Bussey said.
NBC News sent Meta and TikTok links to accounts on their platforms that appeared to be scams and both companies took those specific profiles down.
TikTok told NBC News it proactively removed 97% of content that violated its guidelines on impersonation in the first quarter of this year. Meta says it uses automated and manual systems to block accounts that abuse the company’s standards, but that fraudsters are constantly changing their tactics.
Bussey has reported more than 1,000 of his videos that were posted on fake TikTok and Instagram accounts — a task so time-consuming he had to hire someone to help get them taken down. Boyle says he, too, has been reporting these scams for years, but it’s a never-ending cycle.
“Let’s say I put down one today. If I report it to whatever social media channel, maybe two goes up the next day. So it’s like it’s such a whack-a-mole situation.”
If you are a renter, protecting yourself starts with vigilance. If a deal looks 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 toured.
Agents say that typically, an application fee will not be more than $50. Also, independently verify an agent’s contact information — don’t rely on the listing profile. And if you do fall victim, contact your bank, the platform and the FBI immediately.
