Renter beware: Study finds Craigslist catches barely half of scam rental listings

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/ntso-rbs022916.php

Public Release: 1-Mar-2016
Renter beware: Study finds Craigslist catches barely half of scam rental listings
NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Apartment hunters in big cities know the drill: They spot a listing for a well-priced, attractive place and make an inquiry, only to be met with demands for an instant credit check or an upfront fee to access the full listing. Savvier home hunters spot these scams immediately, but others fall through the cracks, making popular rental listing sites like Craigslist a highly lucrative spot for fraud.

A new study by researchers at the New York University Tandon School of Engineering finds that Craigslist fails to identify more than half of scam rental listings on the site's pages and that suspicious postings often linger for as long as 20 hours before being removed--more than enough time to snare victims, especially in competitive housing markets.

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