almost wired $4200 to a K-town landlord who doesn't exist
friend just moved out here from Chicago for a job at one of the studios. found a 1BR on FB marketplace, gorgeous listing, $2100/mo which is nuts for that area. landlord had a whole story aka "out of the country", "trust-based leasing," would send keys by fedex after deposit + first + last hit his Zelle.
she was hours away from sending it. i told her to pay someone $50++ on TaskRabbit to just walk by the building. turned out the address was a vacant unit above a nail salon that had been listed by three different "landlords" in six months. photos were scraped from a Redfin sold listing in DTLA.
she got the money back because she hadn't sent it yet BUT we know some other people experience similar thing without getting their money back.
anyway just posting because i keep meeting people who almost did this. if you're moving here sight unseen do NOT wire anything until someone with eyes verifies the address is real.