Buying or renting a home? Be alert to these common scams.
CBSN
Scammers often target house hunters, perceiving them to be easy targets because they are particularly eager for deals, given how large a share of one's income is allocated toward purchasing a home.
In 2022, more than 40 million homebuyers and renters were cost-burdened in the U.S., given that they spent at least 30% of their income on housing, according to a CBS News analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. At the same time, from 2018 to 2023, nearly 70,000 instances of real estate and home rental-related cybercrimes were reported to the the FBI, resulting in roughly $1.4 billion in losses to consumers, according to a CBS News tally of figures from the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center.
The data illustrates that scammers are increasingly targeting Americans during the homebuying process, and preying upon their hopes for some financial relief when purchasing.
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