Man loses hundreds of dollars after rental scam in Spring Hill

SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Spring Hill Police Department (SHPD) issued a warning after a man was duped out of close to $1,300 through a fake rental scam.

According to the department, this rental scam happens multiple times a year. Recently, a man looking to rent a home was scammed out of his hard earned money.

Think of that old adage, “If it’s too good to be true, then it probably is.” That’s how this rental scam story began in Spring Hill.

“We deal with different variations of this scam. We have been for years now,” SHPD Lt. Mike Foster said.

Investigators said a man found a home for rent on Facebook Marketplace. It was listed for $1,200 a month.

According to police, not only is that number extremely low, but as it turned out, the home was not really for rent. At the time, Foster said the home was for sale, so the suspect(s) copied some of the online advertising and adopted it into their Facebook scam.

“They wanted $1,200 for rent for this house, which, it’s probably gonna rent for $2,000, so there’s a big price drop, and when there’s a big price drop, that’s a red flag,” Foster said.

However, the victim didn’t pick up on these red flags, so he called the number on the ad.

Authorities said the fake salesperson on the other end of the line urged the victim to send an application fee of $85 through Cash App, using lots of high pressure sales tactics to close the deal.

“They’re looking for people who think, ‘Oh, that’s a good deal. I better act on it,’ and they get $1,200 from one person, and then they move on to the next person, so you could probably potentially make, if you get five victims a day, you’re looking at $6,000 a day,” Foster explained, adding that the scammers make victims feel like they need to do something right away or someone else is going to rent it.

To make the scam seem even more legit, the con artist reportedly had a code that allowed the victim to access the home to look around. Foster said it was the same code that was being used to let people into the home while it was being shown to potential buyers.

According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), 85% of people who encounter a rental scam scenario don’t fall for it, but for the 15% who do, they lose an average of at least $400 per person.

While investigating this case, members of SHPD posed as potential renters and called the same add. Law enforcement recorded the call on body camera footage obtained by News 2.

“Me and my wife, we drove past it not long ago. We’re pretty interested in it,” an officer said.

The man asked for an upfront application fee of $85. The suspect wanted the officer playing the role of a renter to pay the upfront fee over Cash App.

At the end of the call, the alleged scam artist pressured the undercover officer to close the deal:

Suspect: “You wanna move in today?”

Officer: “Today? Oh my God.”

Suspect: “I mean, when exactly are you planning to move?”

News 2’s Andy Cordan called the suspect’s number listed in the police report. The voice on the other end of the line sounded similar to the man the officer was talking to in the body camera footage.

Suspect: “Yeah, who is this?”

Cordan: “Hey, this is Andy Cordan. Who is this?”

Suspect: “You’re calling me asking who is this. Who are you trying to call?”

Cordan: “Well, this is about a home for rent in Spring Hill. Have I called the wrong number?”

Suspect: “Yeah, you’re calling the wrong number.”

Cordan: “I got your number from the Spring Hill police. They told me to give you a call because they tell me you’re scamming people in Spring Hill, so I needed to call and see what your perspective is on that.”

Suspect: “No, no, that is not true.”

Cordan: “That’s not true? Well, they tell me about a guy that answered a Facebook Marketplace ad, and he sent $1,200 via Cash App, and then he got ripped off, so I gotta ask, are you ripping people off?”

Suspect: “I know nothing. I know nothing about it, okay?”

Cordan: “I gotcha. Are you in the United States?”

Suspect: “Yes.”

Cordan: “Why do they have your name and why are they telling me?”

With that last question, the line went dead.

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Even though the person on the other end of the line told Cordan he was in the U.S., the majority of these scams are perpetrated by people overseas, which makes prosecution practically impossible, according to authorities.

Police urge community members to remember some simple red flags for scammers:

• Is the property dramatically under valued for the area?
• Is the salesperson using high pressure tactics to get you to commit before you’re ready?
• Does the salesperson want you to complete the transaction using a payment method that seems unusual to you, like an app or a gift card?

Like many scams, you are urged to slow down and think about the deal before you agree to it.

Officials recommend doing your own research. In other words, look up the property, find out who owns it, and contact them to make sure everything is on the up and up.

Had the victim in this case looked up the address he was trying to rent, police said he might have noticed it was for sale and not for rent. From there, he could have contacted one of the listed agents and gotten real information that might have prevented him from losing more than $1,200 to this scam.

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