Online Listings Might Be Big, Fat Scams — Fraudsters Lurk In Online Vacation Rental Listings

In a housing market already strained by low inventory and surging prices, a new kind of predator is lurking in online listings.

Scammers posing as landlords or sellers target desperate renters and buyers with fake properties, promising dream homes that vanish as quickly as the down payment is wired.

Southampton, New York, a Long Island vacation destination, has seen a dramatic rise in scams. It's not just in Southampton; vacation destinations are at higher risk because real estate attorneys aren't always involved in transactions, according to Fox News Digital.

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In neighboring East Hampton, a real estate agent learned that her vacation home was listed by someone else on Airbnb after the potential victim reached out to her directly to inquire about the requested payment method of a wire transfer of $25,000 rather than completing the transaction through the app.

Police warn that criminals posing as property owners contact real estate agents to represent them in negotiating the sale of lien-free, vacant land and can successfully defraud a potential buyer by accepting a transfer of funds to an out-of-town account.

"It's kind of been running rampant," Suffolk County real estate agent Zachary Scher told Fox News Digital. "We've been talking about it among the various offices."

Criminals target properties free and clear of mortgages, using forged identities and fake powers of attorney to deceive title companies into transferring ownership without the homeowner's awareness.

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"The only saving grace for the homeowners was there is title insurance, so they got the home back," New Jersey-based attorney David Gelman told Fox News Digital. "It's a [mess] that takes years to fix."

Buyers should beware of secretive "sellers" who conduct business via text and email rather than meeting in person or on a video call. They'll also want buyers to pay cash for properties they're offering for below market value. They don't list properties online or post a physical sign that it's for sale.

Police recommend that real estate agents verify a seller's identity by requesting multiple forms of identification, face-to-face meetings and asking for details about the local area that only someone familiar with it would know.

"Online, it's a lot easier for criminals to rip people off by offering products they don't actually own," Los Angeles-based trial attorney and former federal prosecutor Nama Rahmani told Fox News Digital. "We see this a lot with in-demand items like sports and concert tickets, and properties in the Hamptons are no different."

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