Property Scam

 If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is not. For a few hours today, I thought the stars were aligning for me. Someone responded to my ad looking for an apartment on Fb, and put me in touch with their former landlord. The landlord claimed he was a trucker and away a lot. The rent was very reasonable (in hindsight, too reasonable) and the pictures of the apartment were amazing. However, everything went south when I asked if I could put him in touch with a friend who lives in the same town, who would view the place on my behalf. He said that was not possible as he was away a lot. The friend could drive by and look at the place from the outside. He was willing to do a viewing but only after I had paid a a security deposit. HE sought to reassure me that his lawyer would be involved in drawing up the lease, so there was nothing to worry. Red flags went up immediately in my head and I forwarded our email exchange to two friends, who agreed that it seemed very fishy. I googled the address to see if I could find any property records, although this person on the other side of the emails could be impersonating the owner even if there was a property recorded in the name he gave me. I became convinced it was a scam when I did a google search on the images, and it threw up a listing for a different house in Northampton.  The four pictures he had sent me were an exact match, down to the smallest detail. So, there. The stars are not lining up, or at least not yet. But, I realise I am very lucky that I have people on the ground willing to scope out properties for me. What do most people moving to a new place where they don't know anyone do? Get scammed or go through expensive realtors, I guess.