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- Take it for rent: how scammers use the topic of rental housing before September
Take it for rent: how scammers use the topic of rental housing before September
Fraudsters may use various rental schemes to deceive Russians before the start of the autumn season, experts have warned. Intruders are attracted by the growing demand for real estate at the end of summer: students en masse go to major cities to study, and many residents return from vacations or dachas. For details on what schemes to expect from scammers on the topic of rental housing before the autumn season in 2026, what are the dangers of such tricks and how to protect yourself from them, read the Izvestia article.
How is renting a house before September interesting for scammers
At the end of summer, the demand for rental housing soars, as students en masse go to major cities to study, and many residents return from vacations or dachas, Maxim Fedosenko, a leading engineer and analyst at the Gazinformservice Cybersecurity Analytical Center, told Izvestia. Due to the growing demand, it is becoming more difficult to find good housing, prices are increasing, and people are starting to fuss, fearing they will not be able to make it and be left without a roof over their heads.
— Such a panic attracts scammers who begin to actively apply social engineering methods: when a person is afraid that the apartment will be "stolen" right from under his nose, he becomes less vigilant and at the same time more ready to transfer the deposit in a hurry without looking, - says the expert.
A separate risk group consists of parents of first-year students who are looking for an apartment for children remotely and do not have the opportunity to inspect it in person, adds the deputy director of the Analytical Center of the IT company Ural Center for Security Systems Diana Zhukova.
The rush and lack of time force people to make decisions hastily, check documents less and click on links or make an advance payment more readily. Scammers exploit haste and competition for "profitable" options. At the same time, their main goal today is the victims' data (card details, logins, passwords, SMS codes), which allow them to withdraw money or apply for loans, the editorial interlocutor notes.
What schemes on the topic of rental housing to expect at the end of summer 2026
In 2026, fraudsters will increasingly scale classic rental schemes by leveraging them with digital technologies, Maxim Fedosenko believes. Potential victims will be diverted from the secure chat rooms of the ad platforms to third-party messengers, where attackers have full carte blanche to use phishing links and fake payment gateways.
"Visually, such fake services are practically indistinguishable from legitimate ones, but the built—in security mechanisms from the platforms do not work there, and the entered bank card data and collateral amounts fly directly to the fraudsters' accounts," warns Izvestia's interlocutor.
In addition, today, attackers are actively using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate photos of "ideal" apartments and forge property documents, as well as to create fake reviews — after receiving an advance payment, scammers disappear, adds Diana Zhukova. According to her, phishing is also gaining momentum: the victim is taken away from a legal ad in a messenger and sent a link to a fake booking page, where they are asked to enter card details or an SMS code, download an APK file with a Trojan to hijack an online bank, etc.
Sometimes scammers disguise phishing as a "symbolic" payment for a reservation (for example, one ruble) — clicking on such a link deducts a large amount from the account. Attacks on landlords are also intensifying: they receive calls disguised as families of military personnel and other privileged categories, are asked to rent out their homes and are offered to pay the rent using public funds, Diana Zhukova notes. Then a "bank employee" contacts the victim and, allegedly for the purpose of completing a housing contract, asks him to dictate the card number and SMS code, after which he gets access to the victim's bank accounts.
— Finally, cybersecurity experts record cases of account theft on ad platforms through clicks on phishing links, — the specialist continues. — The stolen profile is then used to massively post fake offers.
What schemes on the topic of rental housing have you encountered before
Meanwhile, scammers have tried to speculate on the topic of rental housing before the autumn season before. As Evgeny Egorov, a leading analyst at the Digital Risk Protection department of F6, says in an interview with Izvestia, in 2025, the company's specialists recorded deception schemes aimed at both potential tenants and those who published real estate rental ads.
— In particular, the attackers posted posts with favorable offers for renting apartments in new residential complexes, — says the expert. — When the user called or wrote to the fake apartment owner, the scammer replied that he was already waiting for the future tenant on the spot. And he explained that according to the rules of the residential complex, registration is required to enter the territory.
If the potential victim agreed to these actions, the scammer sent a link to a phishing resource and a code that had to be specified during registration, Evgeny Egorov notes. Owners of Android devices were offered to install the Smart Home mobile application, which was actually malicious and allowed intruders to steal money from the account.
And iPhone users were required to verify their identity through BankID — enter their bank card details and phone number, and on the next page, an SMS code. In this way, the criminals gained access to the victim's mobile bank. According to Anastasia Patrusheva, a specialist in the cyber intelligence department of Bastion, such tricks are mainly aimed at students, university graduates, as well as nonresident citizens — anyone who has to look for an apartment in a short time.
— The consequences of such deception schemes can be different — from financial losses and loss of the opportunity to settle to court proceedings and compromise of personal data, — warns the interlocutor of the editorial office.
How to protect yourself from rental schemes in 2026
In order to protect yourself from fraudsters' tricks on the topic of renting housing before September, experts interviewed by Izvestia advise following certain safety rules. In particular, Vitaly Fomin, head of information security analytics at the Digital Economy League, urges never to transfer money before a personal inspection of the apartment. Any pressure in the form of "pay now, otherwise we'll give it to someone else" is a suspicious sign.
— When searching for apartments through various sites, you should always check the ad for duplicates, — the expert advises. — A photo search quickly shows whether the same object has been placed on other sites with a different name and price. It is also necessary to carefully, preferably with a reliable lawyer, check the property documents and verify the data: the owner's full name in the contract and in the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the matching of the address and the presence of other people registered in the apartment.
You can not follow links and QR codes from ads and messages: it is better to manually enter the address of the official site of the site in the browser, Vitaly Fomin reminds. It is worth making a deposit only with the simultaneous issuance of a receipt — it is not uncommon for a person to give money, and in the evening other tenants come who also paid for this apartment. Even with short—term rentals, according to the analyst, it is necessary to conclude a written contract - this is not only legal protection, but also an additional filter: fraudsters often shy away from formal transactions.
"To reduce the risks of renting a home, we recommend following the basic rules of digital security: do not follow links from unverified messages, check website addresses, critically evaluate overly profitable offers, and use security solutions to prevent phishing links,— concludes Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity expert Olga Altukhova.
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