Tag Archives: fraud

新しい年が始まりました。多くの人がまだ新年の抱負を抱き続けている時期でしょう。今年こそ運動しようとか禁煙しようという定番のほか、新しいアパートを探そうと計画している方もいるかもしれません。ただし、それは賃貸の手付金詐欺広告も増えるということなので、新居を探すときには注意が必要です。

賃貸の手付金詐欺広告は、ほとんどの国で、ほぼあらゆるプラットフォームで見受けられます。広告はどれも本格的ですが、中には正規のサイトから実際の広告をコピーしてきたものもあります。こうした広告が、定評あるアパート賃貸サイトやオンラインの掲示板、B & B（朝食付き宿泊）の紹介サイト、ときには新聞の三行広告欄にも出現するようになっています。Web サイトの所有者は、偽広告を検出し、できるだけ速やかに削除しようと全力をあげていますが、削除しきれずに新しい広告が出回るケースは後を絶ちません。

この詐欺はいたって単純です。ユーザーが少しでも賃貸物件に興味を示すと、大家と称する人物から連絡が届きます。今は旅行中なので物件を直接お見せすることはできないが、預かり保証金を送ってもらえれば鍵を送るというのです。もちろんこれは典型的な手付金詐欺であり、たいていは銀行からの通常の電信送金とは違う方法で支払いを求めてきます。被害者が送金したとたん、詐欺師は手付金を持って行方をくらまし、二度と姿を現すことはありません。アパートの鍵が届くことはなく、そもそもそんな物件が存在したかどうかさえ怪しくなります。ときには、実際に鍵を送ってくる詐欺師もいますが、被害者が検討しているアパートにその鍵は合いません。おそらくこれも、アパートに合わない鍵だと被害者が気付くまでに足跡を断とうとする時間かせぎの手口でしょう。

また、身元調査を装って被害者の個人情報やパスポート写真を集め、それを悪用して被害者になりすまそうとする詐欺師もいます。

同じような詐欺は別の手口にも使われており、たとえば休暇用アパートのレンタル詐欺が頻発しています。こちらの手口の場合、詐欺師は大家ではなく、間借りに興味を持った人物を装います。細かい内容まで合意が進むと、詐欺師は電信送金を処理するためと称して銀行情報を聞き出そうとします。手口として、まず詐欺師は契約額より多くの金額を大家に送金します。このお金は、詐欺師の銀行口座から支払われたものではなく、実際には金融機関を狙うトロイの木馬によって乗っ取られたオンラインバンキングの口座から盗み出されたものです。送金が記帳されると大家は連絡を受け、現在旅行中と称している詐欺師に宛てて他の手段で過剰分を返金するよう指示されます。数日経つと大家は、そのお金が盗まれたものであること、マネーミュール（送金仲介人）として動いたことになるので返金の義務があることを銀行から告げられます。

このように、貸す側でも借りる側でも常に警戒を怠らず、詳しい事情の確認が困難な場合でも可能なかぎりルールに従うよう必要があります。

• 物件を実際に見るか、担当者に面会するまで、手付金は払わない。
• 物件を見られず、担当者に会えない場合には、信頼できるエスクローサービスを利用する。
• 別の住所に、または通常と違う送金方法を利用するときは十分に注意する。
• 取引を急がず、プレッシャーにも屈しない。相手の売り込みが熱心すぎる場合には、何らかの不都合があると考えてよい。
• 偽の取引で受け取った金銭は、必ずその送信元に返金する。
• インターネットで、電子メールアドレスや広告の文面を検索してみる。すでに詐欺として報告例があるかもしれないからである。

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The New Year has started and many people are still holding to their resolutions. Besides the usual suspects of exercising more and quitting smoking, some might have planned on finding a new apartment. Unfortunately, this also means a rise in prepaid rental ad scams. So be cautious while you’re searching for a new home.

The prepaid rental scam advertisements can be encountered on nearly any platform and in most countries. The ads often look very professional; some are even copies of real ads from legitimate sources. We have seen them on established apartment rental sites, online notice boards, B&B agency sites, and even in the classified ads section of newspapers. The website owners try their best to spot false advertisements and delete them as fast as possible, but there is always a chance that there is a new ad that hasn’t been removed yet.

The scam is pretty simple. Once the victim shows interest in the apartment the alleged landlord informs the victim that he is currently traveling and will not be able to show the apartment in person, but will send the keys after a security deposit has been made. This is a classical advance payment scam. The money is often requested through services other than regular bank wire transfers. After the victim sends the money, the scammer disappears with the deposit and is never heard from again. The key to the apartment is never sent, and the apartment may never have actually existed. Although some scammers made the effort of sending a real key that didn’t work on the apartment to the victim. The attacker may do this to buy some time to erase his tracks until the victim realizes the key does not work on the apartment.  

Some scammers also use the false pretense of a background check to gather personal information or passport photos of the victim, which can then be used to steal the victim’s identity.

Similar scams can happen in the other direction as well, often with rentals for vacation apartments. In those cases, the scammer pretends to be an interested renter instead of the landlord. Once all the details have been agreed on, the scammer will ask for the bank details in order to proceed with the wire transfer. The trick is that the scammer will transfer more money than the agreed sum to the landlord. This money does not come from the scammer’s bank account, but is instead stolen from an online banking account that has been hijacked by a financial Trojan. After the transfer has been credited, the landlord is contacted and asked to send the excess money back to the now allegedly traveling scammer through other means. A few days later, the landlord will be informed by the bank that the money was stolen and he will have to pay it back, since he served as a money mule.

So no matter if you are renting or leasing, you should always be vigilant and try to follow a few rules even if it can be difficult to verify the details.

• Don’t pay any money in advance if you haven’t seen the apartment or met your contact.
• If you can’t see the apartment or meet your contact, use a trusted escrow service.
• Be cautious when sending money to a different address or through unusual financial services.
• Do not rush the transaction or feel pressured. If the other party is too eager to sell, something might be wrong.
• Money from a false transaction should only be sent back to the original account that it came from.
• Search online for the email address or the advertisement text. Others may have already reported it as a scam.

The New Year has started and many people are still holding to their resolutions. Besides the usual suspects of exercising more and quitting smoking, some might have planned on finding a new apartment. Unfortunately, this also means a rise in prepaid rental ad scams. So be cautious while you’re searching for a new home.

The prepaid rental scam advertisements can be encountered on nearly any platform and in most countries. The ads often look very professional; some are even copies of real ads from legitimate sources. We have seen them on established apartment rental sites, online notice boards, B&B agency sites, and even in the classified ads section of newspapers. The website owners try their best to spot false advertisements and delete them as fast as possible, but there is always a chance that there is a new ad that hasn’t been removed yet.

The scam is pretty simple. Once the victim shows interest in the apartment the alleged landlord informs the victim that he is currently traveling and will not be able to show the apartment in person, but will send the keys after a security deposit has been made. This is a classical advance payment scam. The money is often requested through services other than regular bank wire transfers. After the victim sends the money, the scammer disappears with the deposit and is never heard from again. The key to the apartment is never sent, and the apartment may never have actually existed. Although some scammers made the effort of sending a real key that didn’t work on the apartment to the victim. The attacker may do this to buy some time to erase his tracks until the victim realizes the key does not work on the apartment.  

Some scammers also use the false pretense of a background check to gather personal information or passport photos of the victim, which can then be used to steal the victim’s identity.

Similar scams can happen in the other direction as well, often with rentals for vacation apartments. In those cases, the scammer pretends to be an interested renter instead of the landlord. Once all the details have been agreed on, the scammer will ask for the bank details in order to proceed with the wire transfer. The trick is that the scammer will transfer more money than the agreed sum to the landlord. This money does not come from the scammer’s bank account, but is instead stolen from an online banking account that has been hijacked by a financial Trojan. After the transfer has been credited, the landlord is contacted and asked to send the excess money back to the now allegedly traveling scammer through other means. A few days later, the landlord will be informed by the bank that the money was stolen and he will have to pay it back, since he served as a money mule.

So no matter if you are renting or leasing, you should always be vigilant and try to follow a few rules even if it can be difficult to verify the details.

• Don’t pay any money in advance if you haven’t seen the apartment or met your contact.
• If you can’t see the apartment or meet your contact, use a trusted escrow service.
• Be cautious when sending money to a different address or through unusual financial services.
• Do not rush the transaction or feel pressured. If the other party is too eager to sell, something might be wrong.
• Money from a false transaction should only be sent back to the original account that it came from.
• Search online for the email address or the advertisement text. Others may have already reported it as a scam.