Realtor gives dire warning of TikTok rental 'scam' that's fooling renters with deals that are costing them hundreds

Realtors are sounding the alarm over a growing TikTok rental scam that is luring desperate house hunters with bargain-priced properties before draining them of hundreds of dollars. 

The scheme, which has surfaced in different real estate markets nationwide, involves scammers stealing actual real estate listings and reposting them on TikTok with reduced rental prices designed to attract users. 

When potential buyers or renters stumble across the property and ask for a tour, the scammer would ask for an application fee upfront, often using online platforms like PayPal or Venmo. 

After illegally obtaining fees and payments from prospective tenants, they disappear with the money, leaving victims down hundreds of dollars in some cases.

Northern Virginia realtor Dell Jeanty with Dell Residential Group said that while his office hasn't experienced that scam yet, he knows it's 'making its way around.'

'There is a saying: trust but verify,' he told the Daily Mail. 'The best way for buyers to shield themselves from this scam is to copy and paste the property address into a search engine to locate the listing agent and have a direct conversation with the agent.' 

'The listing always has the listing agent's phone on the listing page. The buyer can contact an agent to verify the listing's authenticity,' Jeanty added. Additionally, TikTok told the Daily Mail that they provide guidance on 'how to identify and respond to scams' with the Safety Center. 

'We make it easy for our community to report impersonation accounts to us in-app and online,' the TikTok spokesperson noted. 

According to ABC 6 Action News, Tom Dati of Keller Williams Realty said a scammer took all of his pictures and intellectual property and 'built a listing for my apartment.'

The scammer was offering the property at half the actual cost. For people looking for affordable housing, it's particularly easy to fall victim to the trick. 

Dati said he filed a police report and contacted TikTok to have the fraudulent listing removed, but 'they took no action.'

In a statement to the Daily Mail, a TikTok spokesperson said they remove 99 percent of videos that violate fraud and scam policies in the first quarter of the year before they are reported.

But scammers can quickly switch to another account after being flagged as a scam - or switch to other social media platforms like Instagram.

As a result, real estate professionals urge renters to protect themselves by insisting on viewing a property in person before sending any money and approaching heavily discounted, 'too good to be true' deals with caution. 

Broker Jeff Lichtenstein told the Daily Mail that a realtor would never charge an 'application fee' just to show a home.

'I could see where it could happen on rentals as much of that is done with phone work,' he added. 'A double safeguard is to Google the realtor and check out their website and credentials.'

But Lichtenstein said that the scam can go both ways, adding that realtors can sometimes get scammed by a 'phony' seller who seems real on the phone but mentions a property that's 'out of state.'

'Since it's land, there are no worries about meeting someone,' he said. 'The buyer's agent puts in an offer. It can go through if not caught by the title company.'

Housing experts also warned that affordability challenges make renters more vulnerable to fraud, particularly first-time renters, students and people relocating to unfamiliar areas who may be less familiar with local rental prices. 

As the search for affordable housing increasingly shifts to social media alongside traditional listing sites, experts say consumers should be especially cautious of listings that promise unusually low rents.