Onerent Launches AI Tool to Help Stop Rental Scammers

SAN JOSE, Calif., 2020-Apr-14 — /EPR Network/ — Roughly 5.2 million in America are defrauded in rental scams each year. Onerent, the largest rental property manager on the West Coast, launched Scamlord.ai to help combat bogus listings.

“Rental Scam is a two billion dollar risk in the US. We want to help renters avoid fake landlords or ‘Scamlords’, so we developed our first anti-rental scam tool to stop scammers in their tracks. With our experience in real estate, we already know how Scamlords operate,’’ said Chuck Hattemer, Co-Founder and CMO of Onerent.

Scamlord.ai is a tool designed to spot “Scamlords” and their bogus listings. To verify if a listing is fake or not, renters only need to encode a property listing’s details. The AI then checks the listing to determine the probability of fraud. This can help renters make informed decisions about what they should do next.

The AI tool is the outcome of Onerent’s years of experience in encountering thousands of bogus rental listings.

“We followed the behavioral patterns of rental scammers and developed an algorithm based on those patterns. Our machine learning model chunks this data and determines the likelihood of scam,” said Onerent Lead Data Scientist and COO Julian Kuan.

With Scamlord.ai, renters can now hunt for homes without the fear of falling prey to fake rental listings by con-landlords.

“Tools like these are needed now that online scams are surging with the on-going coronavirus pandemic. Scammers are taking advantage of the situation, claiming they can’t do showings because of social distancing. They’ll also ask you to wire the security deposit and first month’s rent in advance,” Hattemer said. 

Scamlord AI tracks patterns in the types of properties and probes phone numbers scammers use, like Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) numbers generated on the Internet.

Unsuspecting renters can be easily trapped by fake listings, as most of them look real. Scamlords copy and use real listing’s photos and information, and will replace the contact details with their own upon posting.

These con-landlords then publish the listing on many sites with a lower price to bait renters searching for a home. Lots of fake landlords have used this trick to get their victim’s security deposit and first month’s rent.

“Being scammed out of your pockets and ending up homeless is a cruel experience, especially in this time of a global pandemic. And for some, it can be financially devastating,” Hattemer concluded.

About Onerent:

Founded in 2014, Onerent helps monetize and manage property in the cloud, streamlining the rental experience. The company manages over $2 billion in residential rental properties across six major metro areas in California, Washington, and Colorado states, with new markets coming soon.

Onerent’s leadership team carries over 50 years of combined real estate experience. The company is venture-backed with over $15 million from numerous Google execs such as Jeff Dean, Chief of AI at Google; Bob Moles, former Trulia board member and CEO of Century 21, XG Ventures, Renren; and the Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest real estate developer.

 

Contact:

Chuck Hattemer
CMO & Co-founder

chuck@onerent.co

(408) 899-8429