HOW TO TELL IF A LANDLORD IS
A SCAM BEFORE YOU PAY

The quickest way to tell if a landlord is a scam is to ask for two things before any money moves: a viewing of the property, and proof that this person has the right to rent it. A genuine landlord or agent can give you both; a scammer will find a reason why neither is possible and still ask for a deposit.

Do not pay a deposit, an application fee or the first month's rent until you have seen the place and checked who owns it. Everything below helps you decide how careful to be, but that rule decides most cases on its own.

THE RED FLAGS

The US Federal Trade Commission lists the warning signs in its guide to rental listing scams. In short:

• The listing looks copied. Scammers reuse real photos, descriptions and virtual tours and swap in their own contact details. The same address may appear in other ads under a different owner or company name.
• The rent is far below similar places nearby, or the ad promises more than the price could buy.
• You cannot see the property. The "owner" is out of the country, travelling for work or otherwise unable to show it.
• You are pushed to decide fast. Other applicants are waiting, the deal ends today.
• They want sensitive data early. A Social Security number, a photo of your driving licence or payslips before you have agreed to rent.
• They ask for a credit score screenshot or tell you to sign up for a paid credit-monitoring service. The FTC notes that most landlords pull credit themselves.
• They want payment by wire transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency. The FTC compares this to sending cash.
• The home is listed for sale, not for rent, somewhere else.

Several flags together, especially an absent owner plus a deposit request, are the pattern.

CHECK THE LISTING

Start with the ad itself, because a copied listing is the setup the FTC describes first.

1. Search the address. Put the full address into a search engine on its own, then with the owner's or company's name. If the same flat shows up with different contact details, or on an estate agent's site with another agent's name, the ad you answered is likely a copy.
2. Check the company's own website. If the "agent" says they work for a letting company, find that company's site yourself and look for the listing there. Call the number on the company's site, not the one in the ad, and ask whether the person you are dealing with works there.
3. Reverse-search the listing photos. Run one or two of the property photos through Google Lens. If they appear on an older listing, a hotel page or a sale advert, ask the landlord why.
4. Compare the rent with other listings in the same area.

CHECK WHO OWNS THE PROPERTY

A private landlord should be the owner, or able to show they act for the owner. The FTC suggests looking up ownership on city or county tax assessment websites and checking that the landlord's ID matches the owner's name. Outside the US, many countries have a land or property register; check what yours offers and whether there is a fee.

If the names do not match, ask for an explanation and a document that shows the person's authority, such as a letting agreement with the owner. "My uncle owns it" with nothing on paper is a reason to walk away.

CHECK THE LANDLORD'S FACE

Rental scammers borrow faces as well as flats. A fake agent may use a real agent's headshot from a company website. A fake private landlord may send a photo of an ID card or a friendly selfie to look trustworthy. These are photos you can test.

1. Collect the faces you have: the profile picture on the listing site or WhatsApp, the photo on any ID they sent, any selfie.
2. Crop each to the face and run a face search on Trace. Trace matches the face, not the file, so it can find the same person in a completely different photo. That matters when a headshot was lifted from an agency page and then cropped or filtered.
3. Read the pages. The same face on a real estate agency's team page under a different name and phone number is a strong sign someone is impersonating that agent. Call the agency using the number on its own site. The same face under several unrelated names, or on stock-photo sites, means the photo is not theirs.
4. Compare the ID with the selfie. If you have both, put them side by side in the free face comparison. It gives one similarity score, searches nothing and stores nothing. A low score between "my ID" and "me" is a reason to stop.

Each Trace result is a public page with a similarity score from 50 to 100: 70–80 is a possible match worth a second look, 80–90 is strong, 90+ is near-certain. A score compares two images; relatives and lookalikes can score high, so open the pages and judge. An empty result means nothing was found on the part of the public web Trace can reach. It does not prove the landlord is genuine, so the viewing and ownership checks still apply. Why a face search can catch what image search misses is explained in reverse image search vs face search.

VIEW AND PAY SAFELY

• See it in person, or send someone you trust. A self-guided tour with a lockbox code is not proof the person has the right to rent; the FTC notes scammers set these up using a real landlord's listing.
• Get the lease in writing before paying, and read who the landlord is on it.
• Pay by a traceable method such as a card or bank transfer to a named business account, never gift cards, wire services or crypto.
• Contact the owner or company through details you already had, not the ones the person gave you.

If the conversation has moved to WhatsApp, the profile there can be checked the same way; see who is texting me on WhatsApp. For holiday lets, the FTC adds: get a contract before any deposit, confirm the address exists, and call the resort's front desk to confirm the booking.

IF YOU ALREADY PAID

1. Contact your bank or card company straight away and say it is fraud.
2. Report the ad to the website where it was posted.
3. In the US, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to local police and your state attorney general, as the FTC advises. Elsewhere, use your national police or fraud-reporting service.
4. Keep the ad, the messages, the ID photo and payment details.

For anything legal, such as a deposit held by a real landlord who will not return it, speak to a qualified adviser or your local tenancy authority. For the scripts scammers use in other situations, see is this person a scammer, and for buying rather than renting, are Facebook Marketplace sellers legit.

USE THE CHECK TO PROTECT YOURSELF

These checks are for deciding whether to trust someone who is asking you for money. Trace returns public pages and a score; it gives no names, addresses or phone numbers, and it is not an identification service. Do not use it to pursue a landlord, a tenant or anyone else in person. The real agent whose face a scammer borrowed is usually a victim too. Anyone can have their face removed from Trace's index and blocked from being added again at traceaifacescan.app/remove-my-photos, with no account and no ID.

FAQ