{"id":458183,"date":"2026-09-09T11:53:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458183\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:53:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:53:21","slug":"san-francisco-renter-wired-18600-to-a-craigslist-impostor-who-hijacked-a-real-landlords-listing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/458183\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco renter wired $18,600 to a Craigslist impostor who hijacked a real landlord’s listing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"tran<\/a> Alvin Tran\/Realtor.com\/Heather Diehl\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

San Francisco renter Alvin Tran thought he did everything right when he found a two-bedroom apartment in the city’s Duboce Triangle neighborhood. The unit was real. The open house was real. Even the man showing the apartment was the real owner. <\/p>\n

The kicker? The person Tran had been emailing about the rental wasn’t. <\/p>\n

Must Read <\/p>\n

According to Realtor.com<\/a> and his own Reddit <\/a>thread, the product designer wired $18,600 to a scammer who was posing as the landlord. It was an elaborate scheme that highlights just how difficult rental fraud can be to spot. <\/p>\n

“I’ve been in San Francisco for five years, and I’ve moved around a few different apartments. I’ve actually found two apartments in San Francisco from Craigslist, so that’s why I thought that Craigslist is pretty legit and why I was OK looking up apartments on there this time around,” Tran told Realtor.com.<\/a> <\/p>\n

The scam continued even after the real open house <\/p>\n

Tran found identical listings for the apartment on Zillow and Craigslist and contacted both. The Craigslist contact replied first and invited him to an open house that same day. <\/p>\n

When Tran arrived, the actual owner showed him the vacant apartment, and the owner’s name matched the name being used by the person emailing him. <\/p>\n

Tran assumed everything checked out. <\/p>\n

After touring the apartment, Tran continued communicating through the Craigslist email thread, thinking that he was dealing with the owner he had just met. He submitted an application with additional documents, was approved and signed a lease. <\/p>\n

He didn’t experience any of the urgency that’s often associated with scams. <\/p>\n

“They were pretty legit. They were not moving fast; they were not pushy. They even asked me to submit a letter expressing my interest,” Tran said<\/a>. “They took their time, and there were multiple steps in between. So I couldn’t really think of any red flag.” <\/p>\n

On July 27, Tran wired $18,600 to cover his first and last months’ rent and security deposit. <\/p>\n

The scammer didn’t immediately disappear. Over the next several days, they continued discussing typical move-in details, including utilities, internet, cleaning and mailbox access. They arranged to meet Thursday evening to hand over the keys. <\/p>\n

Story Continues <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, when Tran arrived, there was nobody there to meet him. His calls, texts and emails went unanswered. <\/p>\n

The next morning, he contacted the person behind the Zillow listing. That’s when he learned the owner had never posted the Craigslist ad, communicated with him after the open house, signed his lease or received his money. <\/p>\n

Tran reported the fraud to Bank of America, the receiving bank, San Francisco police, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, the Federal Trade Commission and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit. But in an Aug. 7 update to his Reddit post<\/a>, Tran said Bank of America had informed him its attempts to recover the funds were unsuccessful and his claim had been closed. <\/p>\n

Read More: Vanguard reveals what’s coming for U.S. stocks \u2014 and it could be bad news for this group of investors<\/a> <\/p>\n

Renting a home? Here’s what to watch out for <\/p>\n

The case highlights an important weakness: seeing a property in person doesn’t necessarily mean the person you’re communicating with online is authorized to rent it. <\/p>\n

“A real open house proves that the property exists. It does not prove that the person texting you has the authority to rent or sell it,” real estate broker Adriana Montes told Realtor.com.<\/a> <\/p>\n

Before sending any money or documentation, the Federal Trade Commission<\/a> advises that you independently verify who you’re dealing with. <\/p>\n

If a brokerage or property management company is involved, look up its contact information yourself and confirm the agent or listing. With a private landlord, check property ownership through local public records and make sure the name matches the person receiving your payment. <\/p>\n

Renters should also be careful about requests for wire transfers, cryptocurrency or gift cards, and if there are sudden changes to payment instructions, take it as a red flag. Pressure to send a deposit right away because other renters are supposedly waiting is another warning sign to watch out for. <\/p>\n

Most importantly, don’t assume that a real apartment, real tour or even a real landlord means your online conversation is legitimate. <\/p>\n

Tran says one simple question could have exposed his scammer before he sent the money. <\/p>\n

“As a potential tenant, I would go the extra mile to confirm that information. Even confirm where you saw the listing,” he said. “Because if I had even mentioned Craigslist, I feel like things would have fallen apart.” <\/p>\n

What To Read Next <\/p>\n

Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first \u2014 clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com<\/a> under the title: San Francisco renter wired $18,600 to a Craigslist impostor who hijacked a real landlord’s listing<\/a> <\/p>\n

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alvin Tran\/Realtor.com\/Heather Diehl\/Getty Images San Francisco renter Alvin Tran thought he did everything right when he found a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[170032,94561,9176,101,103,102,104,106,105,180749],"class_list":["post-458183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-alvin-tran","tag-craigslist","tag-dave-ramsey","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-the-open-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}