We all need a little shelter. But why is it so damn hard to get?
One of the busiest and most trafficked sections of our site, the SmartShanghai Housing platform gets around 10,000 housing listings a month. The vast majority of these are legitimate listings from the good denizens of Shanghai -- good people out there trying to live their lives in the properties game -- but a small percentage, of course, are not.
We do our very best to regulate the housings listings each and every day to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. But it's an impossible task. Every so often a scammer will sneak through and attempt to utilize the service to take advantage of someone's good will and steal their hard-earned money.
A brief look at our safety measures: we make agencies go through a verification process; we monitor suspicious listings; we've put up a big notice with dos and don'ts based on all the knowledge we've accumulated over the years. We even recently upgraded the notice to a big flashing red "SCAM ALERT" banner to get people to read it before renting.
But some of our users are still getting scammed. It happens from time to time.
At any rate, to further spread the message of awareness, here's some common, real examples of the scams and stories of housing woes we've received over the years. The more this knowledge is out there, the less likely people will fall for these scams if they happen to encounter them. Positive vibes to all these people whose stories appear here. Rough.
1. The Key Scam
The Key Scam is the most common scam we see at SmartShanghai. The landlord claims to be somewhere overseas (usually the U.S.) and promises to mail the keys that never arrive after receiving the rent and deposit. Never make a bank transfer to the landlord of an apartment without seeing the apartment, meeting the landlord, and testing the keys to see that they work.
The Empty Apartment Scam
The empty apartment scam is another common one we get. The scammer somehow has access to an apartment and pretends that it is theirs, then disappears after taking your deposit and rent, leaving you with a useless key. Don't let that happen to you. Only rent a shared apartment from someone who is obviously living there. Oh, and make sure you get a real contract.
The Double Landlord Scam
I tried to contact him on his mobile phone and email but he is not responding to me. I am aware of my stupidity of not checking with the landlord before trusting this guy. But some lessons in life are hard learned, right?"
Ouch. Right. The most famous version of this story happened in 2012 when aCanadian guy made off with 300,000rmb cheating over 50 tenants and landlords.
300,000rmb.
It's illegal to sublet your apartment unless you have that provision in your contract with your landlord. If you rent from a subletter, get in contact with the landlord, let them know that you are renting from their tenant, and ask to see the original contract, which you'll need to register with the police.
4. Barrier Room Fraud
It is illegal to add walls or barriers to original building plans and rent them out as additional rooms. When viewing apartments, look closely to see if walls are sketchy and seem like they were not included in the original building plan. If so, find another apartment and another agency.
