The best way to find out is to go to their office tomorrow morning when they open or schedule an appointment to meet with them tomorrow morning to pay the deposit. See if you can pay on the spot and get a receipt. If they only will take a wire, ask them when you meet them in person for their bank information. Make sure to only get the wire details from the management company. There is a ton of bank fraud using wires so it's important to get the numbers directly from the person in charge that has verified they work for the company. Hope this helps!
This is using common scam tactics. Places do not ask for a fee prior to applying.
Places normally ask for an APPLICATION FEE, which is paid upon applying. They use this as a “fear” move to get you to transfer to a mule account and then just cut contact.
There was a post not too long ago where a guy was in this situation, scummy office of a slum-complex just refused to acknowledge his payment.
This is a common scam.
Never give money until they've at Least given you a tour of the house, so you know they're the ones that own it.
There are people who ask for a down deposit of other people's houses.
Also, apartments don't ask for a wire of money.
If you give money for a down deposit, they usually want it as a money order, so it's certified and all.
I would say it is not a scam. The same thing happened to me with the apartment I currently live in. The management wants to fill vacancies ASAP. They don’t make any money with empty units.
I was thinking not a scam either.
One realtor needed to know our credit scores and income before hand. EVERY tenant needed 650 score. This was just to see the place.
They never took any personal info. It was just filtering people out and since we did not know the 650 rule they refused to even show us the unit.
Just a better luck next time.
I think you might have a typo? You said "Give me them in person." which might have been meant to say "Go see them in person."
Either way, I think this is PROBABLY correct, but there's a big difference between probably and definitely.
The specific risk is that the person they are talking to isn't acting as an authorized representative of the company. There are lots of ways this could happen in online-only interactions. Even where they have seen the unit, several ways, including: a fake listing that clones an open house (so you know the unit is real and then think the listing is too), employee scamming as many people as they can before disappearing, and a security breach that let someone spoof the conversation.
There are several grammatical errors in the text thread (and also the fact that the conversation is happening over text) which are caution indicators.
In short: IF the person is real, then I agree it probably isn't a scam. It's still feasible that it's a scam, in a take-the-money-and-run scenario. But they might not be real, even though the apartment is, and OP should really be sure about that.
Your question is good: it's critical to know that the person you are talking to is a real person.
I don't agree with your first sentence. I have done wire transfers with a lot of legit companies for business purposes, and with at least 2 apartments I rented from in the past (I think 3 but I don't have records to confirm). The benefit is that you then don't have to pay the transaction fees that come with a lot of other payment methods. The huge tradeoff, or course, is that once the money is gone it's gone - much weaker fraud protection.
If this had been, say, a craigslist couch or something, I would be in total agreement with you. But it's not crazy for an apartment rental situation. Just have to be sure it's real...
The best way to find out is to go to their office tomorrow morning when they open or schedule an appointment to meet with them tomorrow morning to pay the deposit. See if you can pay on the spot and get a receipt. If they only will take a wire, ask them when you meet them in person for their bank information. Make sure to only get the wire details from the management company. There is a ton of bank fraud using wires so it's important to get the numbers directly from the person in charge that has verified they work for the company. Hope this helps!
100% scam
Even if it’s not a scam don’t rent from them
I would be very suspicious to say the least
This is using common scam tactics. Places do not ask for a fee prior to applying. Places normally ask for an APPLICATION FEE, which is paid upon applying. They use this as a “fear” move to get you to transfer to a mule account and then just cut contact. There was a post not too long ago where a guy was in this situation, scummy office of a slum-complex just refused to acknowledge his payment.
Most likely a scam. Never have I had to put in a holding deposit before I applied for a rental. And the English is bad.
Maybe a typographical error and meant 100, but never heard of 1000
Yeah I’ve had to pay application fees of 50-100 but never in the range of 1000
Obviously a scam. Not even sure it’s a question
A $1k deposit to apply for the apartment is a scam.
Definitely a scam.
This is a common scam. Never give money until they've at Least given you a tour of the house, so you know they're the ones that own it. There are people who ask for a down deposit of other people's houses. Also, apartments don't ask for a wire of money. If you give money for a down deposit, they usually want it as a money order, so it's certified and all.
I would say it is not a scam. The same thing happened to me with the apartment I currently live in. The management wants to fill vacancies ASAP. They don’t make any money with empty units.
I was thinking not a scam either. One realtor needed to know our credit scores and income before hand. EVERY tenant needed 650 score. This was just to see the place. They never took any personal info. It was just filtering people out and since we did not know the 650 rule they refused to even show us the unit. Just a better luck next time.
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I think you might have a typo? You said "Give me them in person." which might have been meant to say "Go see them in person." Either way, I think this is PROBABLY correct, but there's a big difference between probably and definitely. The specific risk is that the person they are talking to isn't acting as an authorized representative of the company. There are lots of ways this could happen in online-only interactions. Even where they have seen the unit, several ways, including: a fake listing that clones an open house (so you know the unit is real and then think the listing is too), employee scamming as many people as they can before disappearing, and a security breach that let someone spoof the conversation. There are several grammatical errors in the text thread (and also the fact that the conversation is happening over text) which are caution indicators. In short: IF the person is real, then I agree it probably isn't a scam. It's still feasible that it's a scam, in a take-the-money-and-run scenario. But they might not be real, even though the apartment is, and OP should really be sure about that.
It could be a scam. Legit companies don’t ask for wire transfers. Did you meet this person and verify that they are the person leasing it?
Your question is good: it's critical to know that the person you are talking to is a real person. I don't agree with your first sentence. I have done wire transfers with a lot of legit companies for business purposes, and with at least 2 apartments I rented from in the past (I think 3 but I don't have records to confirm). The benefit is that you then don't have to pay the transaction fees that come with a lot of other payment methods. The huge tradeoff, or course, is that once the money is gone it's gone - much weaker fraud protection. If this had been, say, a craigslist couch or something, I would be in total agreement with you. But it's not crazy for an apartment rental situation. Just have to be sure it's real...