Alvin Tran found the same two-bedroom San Francisco apartment listed on both Zillow and Craigslist for $6,200 a month. The photographs and descriptions matched, so he assumed the property owner had simply advertised it on two platforms.
Then he went to see the apartment in person. The unit was real, the open house was real and the man showing prospective renters around was the actual property owner.
What Tran did not know was that the person communicating with him through the Craigslist listing was someone else. The impersonator had copied the legitimate advertisement, adopted the owner’s identity and directed prospective renters to an open house he had not arranged through Craigslist.
Tran continued dealing with the impersonator after the tour, signed a lease and wired $18,600. According to ABC7 News, he discovered the truth only when nobody arrived to give him the keys.
The Fake Listing Sent Him to a Real Open House
Tran was looking for housing in San Francisco’s Duboce Triangle when he saw the apartment advertised on Zillow and Craigslist. Both listings used identical photographs and descriptions.
He received a response through Craigslist from someone calling himself “James Dunlap,” using the name of the actual property owner, who also goes by Jim Dunlap Basuino. The person asked Tran questions about himself and later invited him to attend the apartment’s open house.
Basuino really was showing the property that day, but his appointments had been arranged through Zillow. He told ABC7 that he expected approximately 10 to 12 prospective renters and was surprised when at least 40 people appeared. Neither man realized that the copied Craigslist listing was sending additional renters to the legitimate showing.
The Scammer Continued Using the Real Owner’s Identity
Tran spoke briefly with Basuino during the tour and left believing the man he had met was also the person emailing and texting him. The apartment matched the photographs, the owner knew the property and the showing itself was legitimate.
After the tour, Tran submitted a rental application and supporting documents through the contact connected to Craigslist. He was told that he and his prospective roommate had been approved. He then received what appeared to be a standard California lease identifying the landlords as “James Basuino Dunlap” and another person.
The $18,600 Wire Went to a Different Account
The payment instructions called for $12,400 covering the first and last months’ rent and another $6,200 as a security deposit, according to The San Francisco Standard. The supposed landlord initially directed Tran to send the money to a Wells Fargo account associated with the other name on the lease.
That transfer produced an error. The person communicating with Tran blamed a network problem and provided a different account. Tran was then instructed to wire the money to a Bluevine account under the name JNDNUA International. He successfully sent the full $18,600.
His prospective roommate had provided him with half of the money through Zelle. Tran then sent the supposed landlord confirmation of the wire along with the signed lease.
The Communications Continued After He Paid
The impersonator did not disappear immediately after receiving the money. Tran continued discussing utilities, internet service, cleaning and other move-in arrangements with the person he believed was his new landlord.
He had already given up his existing apartment and hired movers by the time the scheduled key handoff arrived. Tran went to the building at the agreed time, but nobody appeared. He called the number he had been using and received no response. The communications stopped.
The following morning, Tran contacted Basuino through the legitimate Zillow listing and asked whether he had also advertised the property on Craigslist. The real owner told him he had not.
Tran then realized that the person who had accepted his application, sent the lease and directed the $18,600 payment had never been the man he met at the apartment.
He Is Still Trying to Recover the $18,600
After discovering the fraud, Tran contacted his bank, San Francisco police, the district attorney’s office, the mayor’s office and the FBI. Bank of America told him that recovery would depend partly on the institution that received the money. Bluevine told Tran that its teams were reviewing the matter, according to The San Francisco Standard.
No recovery of the $18,600 had been confirmed when the reports were published. No arrest or public identification of the person behind the Craigslist listing had been announced.
The San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector’s Office was also assisting Tran through StopScam SF, an initiative created to help residents respond to financial scams.
Verify the Landlord Again Before Sending a Deposit
The Federal Trade Commission warns that scammers frequently copy photographs and descriptions from legitimate rental advertisements and repost them with their own contact information. The FTC also recommends visiting a rental before signing or paying, but it also advises prospective tenants dealing with a private landlord to independently verify who owns the property and confirm the landlord’s identity.
If the same apartment appears on multiple websites, renters should contact the owner through each independently verified listing and ask which advertisements are legitimate. Conflicting contact information, landlord names, email addresses or payment instructions should be resolved before any money is sent.
A request to wire thousands of dollars to a company or individual whose name does not match the verified landlord deserves particular scrutiny. The FTC warns that wire transfers are difficult to reverse and recommends using payment methods that provide stronger protections when possible.
Anyone who realizes that a fraudulent wire has already been sent should contact the sending bank immediately and request a wire recall or fraud investigation. The receiving institution should also be notified as quickly as possible because recovery becomes more difficult once the money is moved elsewhere.
Rental applicants who provided sensitive personal documents to a fake landlord should also consider the risk of identity theft. They can review their credit reports, place free credit freezes with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and report identity misuse through IdentityTheft.gov. Fraudulent rental listings should be reported to the website where they appeared, local law enforcement and the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.