It’s safe to say we’ve gotten to the point where the internet has become the go-to source for most things in life including information, shopping, paying bills, staying connected with friends, and entertainment.
And, once again, this increasing reliance has spawned even more ways to get ripped off.
eRentalApplications.com is a tough cookie to crumble when first you encounter it. It starts, innocently enough, on Craiglist.com. (*note: Before you chastise me, yes I understand Craigslist perhaps isn’t the best place to cite as the paragon of safety and security, but it’s not quite the red light district either so bear with me.)
The posting looks like any other; it might even have pictures and down-to-the-cent information, but it has no other contact besides the anonymous email. Upon sending an email of interest, you receive an email from a gmail account that directs you to use eRentalApplications.com prior to visiting the property. The email generally looks like this:
Hello _________
Please go to www.eRentalApplications.com to fill out a basic rental
application to check tenant history, references, and verify
employment. Your social security is NOT REQUIRED and YOUR CREDIT WILL
NOT BE PULLED at this time. After the application will be reviewed you
will be contacted to set up time to see the property. The process is
simple. Just use the following steps and within minutes your
application will be forwarded for review.
Go to www.eRentalApplications.com and follow these steps:
1. On the homepage click on the “APPLY TODAY” button
2. Find the property address (for which you will be applying)
3. Fill out the application
4. Pending approval you will be contacted regarding your application
as soon as possible
Thanks.
Upon going to the site, it requires a $14.95 charge via paypal just to submit some of your very personal information, without having even seen the property! Should you take umbrage at this and send another email asking what is so amazing about the property that it costs more than a prime movie ticket and soda just to see the inside, you will likely receive nothing back.
However,after a simple search of these same devious interwebs, I did find multiple ripoffreports, comments on Craigslist reporting it was a scam and even a post on Intelligent Designer, (a local area blog) which outlined the blogger’s experience from a property owner’s perspective. In a nutshell, the Craigslist post of his listing had been stolen, copied, advertised for$200 cheaper than his actual listing, and set to redirect to eRentalApplications.com.
The most frightening part about this scam is that only the very last part of the grift is a lie. It is usually a real posting of a real property with real photos and information. But, upon receiving the email to send in your information, the result could be turning over enough information to have your identity stolen, and your wallet $15 lighter for the privilege.
What do we learn from such despicable behavior?
1. If you’re looking for a place to rent, be wary of Craigslist postings without direct contact information.
2. Do not give away your personal information unless you are absolutely sure of where it is going and to whom it is going.
3. If you are posting a place for rent, regularly check the site you post to and keep an eye out for suspiciously similar listings.
4. If you receive an email asking you to use eRentalApplications.com, blow it a raspberry, wipe off your screen, sanitize your keyboard and delete it from your email.
I wish I had done my homework before I paid the $15 to give away my information. I just sent erentalapplications.com an email requesting my money back and I attempted to file a compliant with the BBB. Since I need their address to file the complaint with the BBB, I searched the internet to see if I could find their address and instead I came across all this information that indicates that this is a scam. I’m so upset. I will post my concerns on craigslist, which is where this whole problem started.
@dmerojas: paypal, who I’m guessing you sent your money through paypal, who should/will refund your money. If you used a credit card, dispute the charge. Let paypal and/or your credit card company go after these pricks. They have deeper pockets.
erentalapplications.com also stole my house listing from craigslist. It was from a legit ad I posted several months ago. Had the tenant not called demanding we reduce his rent by the $200 erentalapplications advertised, I would have never known. We called the FTC (they are sending me a brochure! Yay!) and made a posting saying the ad was fake. Outside that, there isn’t much we can do. It’s like the wild-west out there!
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I’m a property manager and I do use erentalapplications.com to handle my application processing. IT IS NOT A SCAM!! The site enables tenants to submit a secure application to me for a property which I list there. It makes my life so much easier. Most importantly, the application does not ask for social security numbers, credit cards, or anything that isn’t already public information.
We’d love to hear from someone who legitimately uses the site. When using erentalapplications, how do you distinguish yourself from the myriad of other gmail accounts that have been shown to use the site for less favorable purposes?
@PropertyManager225: How does erentalapplications.com do credit checks without social security numbers? How do they process the $14.95 application fee with credit cards? Seems a little tricky to me.
In either case, they copied my ad and reposted it with the intention of enticing applicants to pay $15 to apply to rent a property that was not their property and not authorized by the real owner. So, scam? Possibly not. Fraudulent practices by a “legit” company? Definitely!
You might want to rethink your association with erentalapplications.com, PropertyManager225. If their marketing strategy is to practice stealing, I wonder what their other business strategies include……
PropertyManager225 is a scammer obviously!
Why is CraigsList allowing this??
Do I understand the claim that advertisers have unknowingly had their ads re-posted by someone else with this eapplication offer?
And for a fee no less. Has this practice been reported to CL??
Then for those that are allowing this supposed application process and attaching the offer to their ads themselves: If this is in fact an application for residency, then it must be property specific. That is, the actual property that is subject to the application must be specified. And any property management company, property manager, or property owner may find themselves in violation of the statue governing Landlord/Tenant Law by engaging in this practice.
An application cannot be processed, in the sense that a credit report and criminal screening is obtained, without SS#. Hopefully, most people know that this is not the place to provide that type of information.
A simple email to the specific property owner or manager with the info requested to be considered for a showing, provided no civil rights are violated, would be sufficient. And no charge for this service is necessary.
A list of questions can be sent in an auto response.
So, for the property manager that is so lazy to be able to provide the appropriate service to the public or to the client, you may be deserving of losing your license, if you have one.
Be very cautious of these types of requests.
The site doesn’t do credit checks. It just screens serious renters from non-serious ones.
I have over 100 properties located throughout Southern California. My property managers were spending WAY too much time showing properties to people that a.) didn’t have the income or b.) were just shopping around. Historically, our success rate was something like 1 out of every 10 applicants was a “good” renter (pays on time, clean, etc.) Using erentalapplications.com to screen applicants, my success rate is nearly 100%. However, that does come with a caveat: I’ve only been using the site for 6 months. That being said, I’ve had 7 great apartments filled w/ 7 great tenants! One of my tenants told be about the negative comments here, and that is why I am posting my support for the site here.
They stole my ads also. We have now incorporated a watermark on all of our pictures. We are advertising that we DO NOT do business with this company. I have even started a facebook group. It is SCAM: erentalapplications.com . Please join it to spread the word.
We also turned erentalapplications.com (along with all owner information & contact #’s) into the FTC again last week. I noticed today when doing our weekly scam/fraud searches that the site is no longer active! Finally, the FTC noticed that enough people have submitted them and it looks like they took action. However, forewarning – it looks like this has happened before and that is when they started up as erentalapplications.com. So, I wonder where they will show up next. Keep eyes open…the best that we can all do is protect our clients by taking action immediately.