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When Janvier looks back, he regrets that he never set foot in the home he coveted before he sent money to secure the promised rental. He says a crook posing as the owner hurried things
along, had him sign a fake lease and — after Janvier sent money using Zelle and PayPal — promised to meet him at the home in Oxford, Massachusetts. Courtesy Carl Janvier But the crook
didn't show up on the day they were to meet. And when Janvier called the real estate agency on the for-sale sign in front of the house, they “told me that I was scammed.” He complained
about being defrauded to both PayPal and Zelle. PayPal returned his $500, he says, but Zelle refused to credit him for the $2,600 balance he had sent on its peer-to-peer payment app. In
response to a query from AARP, Zelle spokeswoman Meghan Fintland said Tuesday it was investigating the issue and needed “more time to respond." Zelle is meant for transactions with
people you trust, such as family or friends, since once you authorize a payment, the money is irrevocable, says Fintland, who adds: “But these scams are there, too, these too good-to-be-true
opportunities.” That’s one reason Zelle posts fraud and scam warnings. "It was hell, I'm telling you, man,” Janvier says now. An assistant working at a psychiatric hospital, he
says he had borrowed money to come up with the $3,100. Now he says it will take him months to save up that kind of money. Janvier spoke to AARP's Fraud Watch Network Helpline,
877-908-3360, which is seeing a spike in reports of rental fraud cases. LANDLORDS ARE VICTIMS, TOO The web is littered with fake rental listings, leaving not only prospective tenants
aggrieved. Mel, another Helpline caller, is a restaurateur from Long Island, New York. Twice in recent years he had his rental home's listing on Zillow copied by scammers and reposted
on Craigslist, says Mel, who did not wish to be identified with his full name. This spring he listed his two-bedroom home on Zillow for rent for $3,000 a month and a woman contacted him
asking if a Craigslist ad listing the same home for $2,000 was real. He told her the Craigslist post was bogus; fortunately, her careful vetting occurred before she sent the scammer any
money.
