Fraudulent Rental Unit Listings on the Rise in Dubuque

SEPT. 28, 2023

The City of Dubuque is alerting residents to an increase in suspected fraudulent rental unit listings in the city. These attempts are being made in an effort to collect personal and financial information from current or potential Dubuque residents.

Over the past several days, staff in the City’s Housing and Community Development Department have noticed an increase in attempts to post fraudulent rental unit listings to the City’s website. The City has safeguards in place to block these listings. Attempts to post potentially fraudulent listings are likely being made through other sources which do not have similar fraud protection measures, such as Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, most rental listing scams take one of two common forms. In what’s known as a “hijacked ad,” scammers will copy legitimate listings, but substitute their own contact information. In a “phantom rental” scam, they will make up listings for rental units that are not real or do not exist. In either case, the scammers are trying to collect money on properties they do not actually own.

Fraud prevention specialists recommend taking several steps to avoid being victimized by these and similar scams: 
- Perform an online search for the address to ensure the building matches any photos posted in the listing. 
- Search for the rental company’s name with keywords like “scam” or “fraud.” 
- Consider the price of the listing. If it is much lower than most other properties in the area, it is likely a scam. 
- Avoid properties that pressure applicants to send a payment before making the unit available for viewing.

Dubuque’s Housing and Community Development Department has building owner and rental license information that can assist residents with identifying potentially fraudulent listings. Residents can call the department at (563) 589-4230 to review the information if they believe a listing is a scam. 

Potentially fraudulent rental listings can also be reported through the Federal Trade Commission’s website at ReportFraud.ftc.gov or through the Iowa Attorney General’s office at https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/for-consumers/file-a-consumer-complaint.

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MEDIA CONTACT
Alexis Steger, Housing & Community Development Director
ASteger@cityofdubuque.org, (563) 589-4230