By Kellie Bartlett January 01, 2026

Tips to Share with Clients

Talk to your clients about fraud early and often! See page 27 or visit texasrealestate.com/sharethis for consumer-focused information you can share with potential renters to help them spot red flags.

Rental fraud is already a significant problem, and as it becomes more normal to rely on online communication, the door opens even wider for bad actors to take advantage. Combine that with the proliferation of AI tools that can produce convincing fakes, and you have an ever increasing need to be on guard against scams.

Hey, come back with my listing!

Scammers often copy real listing information and photos. Sometimes they’ll use them in another city to get renters to pay a deposit on a property that doesn’t exist at the advertised address. Or sometimes they’ll take your listing and change only the contact information. Then they claim to be the landlord or agent (maybe even pretending to be you!) and try to con potential renters out of money.

Homes that are for sale and sitting vacant can be targets for this kind of scam, too, so even if your listing isn’t a rental, be aware that someone could present it that way. A scammer might even pose as an interested buyer and ask for the code to access a vacant property, just to turn around and give it to the potential renters they’re trying to trick.

You can keep an eye out for such scams by regularly searching for your own listing photos through reverse image searches. Also consider marking your photos with a watermark that is specific to the listing location or your information, so they would be more difficult to reuse. You can also encourage owners of vacant homes to inspect them regularly and to consider adding security cameras, smart locks, and signs warning trespassers that the property is not for rent.

TREC investigators raise the bar on rental fraud enforcement

TREC investigators have won back-to-back international awards from the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials for uncovering rental fraud. In 2024, former Chief Investigator Roy Minton earned the ARELLO Investigator of the Year award for the second time in his career, both for rental fraud investigations. This time he was honored for his work on an investigation that uncovered an eight-month scheme involving 52 fraudulent lease applications and resulted in license revocation for the license holder responsible.

Investigator Jenna Hall won the same award in 2025 for her work on a complex rental fraud case involving fraudulent lease applications that affected three property owners and resulted in license revocation and felony indictments. The exemplary work of these investigators helps Texas maintain high standards of accountability and trust in the real estate profession.

The qualified tenant who never was

Using stolen identities or forged documents like pay stubs or bank records, scammers try to place unqualified tenants in rentals and collect a fee from the tenants, who may then fall behind on rent.

Be on the lookout for red flags like documents with inconsistent fonts or spelling errors, earnings that don’t match job roles, or employment that can’t be checked. Also, be suspicious if the tenants or their agents are in too great a hurry or resist verification.

Operation “oops”

An applicant presents a check for the security deposit and first month’s rent. Then the prospective tenant “discovers” that he paid too much and asks the owner or property manager to return the difference. Since both the applicant and the check seem legitimate, the landlord or agent sends a refund, only to discover later that the check was fake.

As is often the case with scams, a sense of urgency is a tip-off that something may be amiss. Warn your clients not to be swayed by their desire to help someone who seems emotional. Urge them to pause and investigate if anything is inconsistent with their usual process or timeline. Be sure they are aware that banks sometimes make funds available before they have fully cleared and that scammers try to exploit this window to trick landlords into “refunding” money that was never there.

Encourage your clients to take their time and be sure they get all the answers they need from the bank and other sources before releasing any funds. And if anyone suggests unorthodox payment methods like gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency that are difficult or impossible to track and reverse, consider putting everything on hold. The bigger the red flag, the more slowly and carefully you should proceed.

Where to go for help

If you or your client has been a victim of fraud, stop all contact with the scammers and report the scam to the Texas Attorney General’s Office (or to TREC, if a license holder is involved). You can also file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center and report it to the FTC and local law enforcement.

To keep up with the latest news and warnings about rental scams, make a habit of regularly checking the websites of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, TREC, and NAR.

Defend yourself with old-fashioned due diligence

Scammers depend on you to let something slide, so be deliberate about following your brokerage’s processes for verifying information, using forms, and approving payment channels. Do as much in person as you can, like meeting people and walking through properties.

Before representing clients, check that they are who they say they are and they own what they claim they do. As much as possible, rely on primary sources, like county records and publicly available information, rather than links, PDFs, or screenshots. And trust your instincts. If something seems off, you owe it to your clients and to your professional reputation to slow down and be certain before you proceed.

Kellie Bartlett is assistant editor for Texas REALTORS®.