This time the wife saves someone from being scammed.

[Wayne]

Quickly, here's the background to this story. My wife's best friend and her husband are looking to move to a bigger place. She's not the most scam savvy of people and has fallen for fake FB ads a few times. My wife knows what I do and has a pretty basic knowledge about scams, mainly by osmosis from living with me.

Friend (who we'll call "F") finds a really nice looking place to rent of FB marketplace and tells my wife (who we'll call "W" to save time) about it, showing her the images of the place. W's spidey senses immediately kick in and she asks me to have a look at it. The pics of the place look too "showhomey" to me. Everything is too new, too clean and weirdly enough is shown as being furnished with expensive items. The images are too professional to be a genuine rental situation. W does some more investigating and finds out that it is indeed a scam. F then goes looking again and finds another place. This one wants an "admin fee" just to view it. W tells her it's a scam as well. F's husband ("H") and I have also become good friends over the years, and he gives me a ring about something unrelated. During the call he mentions the 2nd place and we then both take the time to explain to F that any time an "advance fee" is required it's going to be a scam. Sure a person will ask for a deposit before letting you rent a place, but they're not going to charge you just to view it. If you're ever in the same situation - looking for a place to rent - and get told you need to pay upfront before you can even look at the place, it's a scam. Don't send any money and be sure to report the fake ad to the site it's on.