DFW Rental Scam Report 2026: The Data on America's Worst Metro for Rental Fraud

Headline finding: DFW is the worst US metro for rental scams

The single most striking data point about renting in Dallas-Fort Worth has nothing to do with rent prices. In a renter survey by Apartment List, 10.9% of DFW renters reported losing money to an apartment or rental scam, the highest share of any of the 30 largest US metros surveyed. As the analysis put it, no metro area had a higher percentage of scam victims than DFW. That is nearly double the national rate of roughly 6.4%, and far above other Texas metros. Researchers linked the high DFW number to the region's flood of new arrivals: people who are unfamiliar with the local market, or who try to rent sight-unseen before they move, are far more likely to get caught. With DFW still one of the fastest-growing metros in the country, the same conditions that drive the scam rate are not going away.

• ✓DFW: 10.9% of renters reported losing money to an apartment/rental scam, the highest of the 30 largest US metros (Apartment List survey, via CultureMap Dallas, 2018).
• ✓National comparison: roughly 6.4% of US renters reported the same loss - DFW's rate is nearly double.
• ✓Other Texas metros: Houston 4.7%, San Antonio 2.2% (same survey).
• ✓Driver cited: a large number of new movers renting in an unfamiliar market or sight-unseen (Apartment List senior research associate Sydney Bennet).
• ✓Among victims, about one in three lost at least $1,000, typically after paying a fraudulent deposit or first month's rent (Apartment List survey).

National context: $65 million lost, and the real number is higher

The FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network gives the clearest national picture. Since 2020, people have filed nearly 65,000 rental-scam reports and lost about $65 million, with a median loss of $1,000 per report. Because most scams are never reported to any government agency, the FTC is explicit that this total reflects only a fraction of the true harm. The mechanics are consistent: scammers copy a legitimate listing, swap in their own contact information, and repost the fake on a different site to collect deposits from renters who do not discover the fraud until move-in day. This is not a niche problem - it sits inside a record fraud year, with US consumers reporting $12.5 billion in total fraud losses in 2024, up 25% from the prior year.

• ✓Nearly 65,000 rental-scam reports and about $65 million lost since 2020 (FTC Consumer Sentinel / Data Spotlight, December 2025).
• ✓Median rental-scam loss: $1,000; about one in three victims lose more than that (FTC; BBB).
• ✓The FTC stresses the $65 million is an undercount because most scams go unreported.
• ✓Broader backdrop: US fraud losses hit a record $12.5 billion in 2024, up 25% year over year (FTC 2024 Data Book).
• ✓Classic playbook: copy a real listing, change the contact info, repost the fake elsewhere to collect deposits (FTC).

Texas by the numbers: 162,101 reports and $897.9 million lost

Texas is one of the highest-volume fraud states in the country. In 2024, Texans filed 162,101 fraud reports and reported losing $897.9 million to fraud of all kinds, with a median loss of $500, according to the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book. Texas also ranks among the top states for identity theft reports. The FTC does not break rental scams out to the metro level publicly, which is why the DFW-specific figure in this report comes from the Apartment List survey rather than FTC data. But the state-level totals confirm the environment: a large, fast-growing, high-volume fraud market in which rental scams are one of the most common ways renters lose money directly out of pocket.

• ✓Texas: 162,101 fraud reports in 2024 (FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book).
• ✓Texas fraud losses: $897,890,888 in 2024, with a $500 median loss.
• ✓Texas ranks among the top US states for reported identity theft.
• ✓The FTC does not publish metro-level rental-scam rankings, so DFW-specific figures rely on survey data (Apartment List).
• ✓State totals confirm a high-volume fraud environment in which rental scams hit renters directly.

The platforms: Facebook is where rental scams live

If you are renting in DFW, the highest-risk place to find a listing is a social feed. In the 12 months ending June 2025, about half of everyone who reported a rental scam to the FTC said it started with a fake ad on Facebook, and another 16% pointed to a fake listing on Craigslist. This is part of a larger collapse of trust in social platforms: the FTC found $2.1 billion was lost to scams that started on social media in 2025, roughly eight times the 2020 total, with Facebook the single most-reported platform - responsible for more losses than text and email scams combined. Fake rental ads are cheap to run, easy to target at newcomers, and hard to police at scale, which is exactly why they concentrate on the platforms with the most reach.

• ✓About 50% of rental-scam victims say the scam began with a fake Facebook ad (FTC, 12 months ending June 2025).
• ✓Another 16% say it started with a fake Craigslist listing (FTC).
• ✓$2.1 billion lost to scams that started on social media in 2025, about 8x the 2020 figure (FTC Data Spotlight, April 2026).
• ✓Facebook is the single most-reported social platform for scam losses, ahead of WhatsApp and Instagram.
• ✓Losses to Facebook-originated scams exceeded losses to text and email scams combined (FTC).

The new threat: AI-generated listings, fake pay stubs, and deepfakes

The 2026 story is that a scam no longer looks like a scam. Generative AI now lets fraudsters write flawless landlord replies, fabricate pay stubs, IDs, and bank statements, and alter or invent property photos and virtual tours that pass a quick eye test. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $275.1 million in online real-estate fraud losses across 12,368 complaints in 2025, and received more than 22,000 complaints involving AI-enabled schemes totaling roughly $893 million. Security firm Entrust reported that deepfake scams rose 40% year over year in its 2026 Identity Fraud Report. On the operator side, a National Multifamily Housing Council survey found 93.3% of apartment owners, developers, and managers experienced fraud in the prior 12 months. The practical consequence for renters: a professional-looking listing, a convincing photo, or an official-looking document is no longer evidence that a rental is real.

• ✓$275.1 million lost to online real-estate fraud across 12,368 complaints in 2025 (FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report, April 2026).
• ✓More than 22,000 AI-related fraud complaints, about $893 million in losses, in 2025 (FBI IC3).
• ✓Biometric injection attacks surged 40% year over year and deepfake selfies rose 58% in 2025; deepfakes now make up about 1 in 5 biometric fraud attempts (Entrust 2026 Identity Fraud Report).
• ✓93.3% of apartment operators reported experiencing fraud in the prior 12 months (National Multifamily Housing Council Pulse Survey, 2024).
• ✓AI is used to generate fake pay stubs, IDs, bank statements, listing photos, and virtual tours that defeat a quick review.

Who gets targeted, and how to protect yourself

The clearest risk factor is being young and being new. The FTC found renters ages 18 to 29 are three times more likely than other adults to report losing money to a rental scam, and DFW's own high scam rate is tied to the volume of new movers renting sight-unseen. The defenses are boring but effective: refuse to wire money, send gift cards, or pay any deposit before you have toured the unit in person and signed a lease. Verify that the property and its owner exist through the county appraisal district (Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, or Denton CAD), reverse-image-search the listing photos to catch copied listings, and treat urgency, below-market rent, and a landlord who will not meet as red flags. Before you send a dollar, run the listing, address, or landlord message through RemotePropView's free scam detector for an instant risk check.

• ✓Renters 18-29 are 3x more likely than other adults to lose money to a rental scam (FTC).
• ✓DFW's elevated rate is driven by new movers renting in an unfamiliar market, often sight-unseen.
• ✓Never wire money, send gift cards, or pay a deposit before an in-person tour and a signed lease.
• ✓Verify the property and owner at the county appraisal district (Dallas / Tarrant / Collin / Denton CAD) and reverse-image-search listing photos.
• ✓Red flags: below-market rent, pressure to act fast, a landlord who won't meet, and payment demanded before viewing.
• ✓Run any listing, address, or landlord message through the free scam detector before paying.

Key stats you can cite

Reference-grade figures for reporters and researchers, each tied to a primary source:

• ✓DFW renters are the most likely in America to lose money to rental scams: 10.9% reported losing money, the highest of the 30 largest US metros and nearly double the ~6.4% national rate (Apartment List renter survey, via CultureMap Dallas, 2018).
• ✓Americans have filed nearly 65,000 rental-scam reports with the FTC and lost about $65 million since 2020, with a median loss of $1,000 (FTC Consumer Sentinel / Data Spotlight, December 2025).
• ✓About half of rental-scam victims say the scam started with a fake ad on Facebook, and another 16% point to Craigslist, in the 12 months ending June 2025 (FTC Data Spotlight, December 2025).
• ✓Renters ages 18 to 29 are three times more likely than other adults to report losing money to a rental scam (FTC Data Spotlight, December 2025).
• ✓Texans filed 162,101 fraud reports and lost $897.9 million to fraud in 2024, part of a record $12.5 billion in US fraud losses, up 25% year over year (FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book, March 2025).
• ✓US online real-estate fraud reached $275.1 million across 12,368 complaints in 2025 (FBI IC3 2025 Annual Report, April 2026); separately, biometric injection attacks surged 40% year over year and deepfake selfies rose 58% (Entrust 2026 Identity Fraud Report).
• ✓93.3% of apartment owners, developers, and managers say they experienced fraud in the prior 12 months as AI-generated pay stubs and IDs spread (National Multifamily Housing Council Pulse Survey, 2024).

Methodology and sources

This report compiles only real, published figures from primary and authoritative sources; no numbers are estimated or modeled by RemotePropView. National rental-scam figures (nearly 65,000 reports, about $65 million in losses since 2020, a $1,000 median loss, the roughly 50% Facebook share and 16% Craigslist share for the 12 months ending June 2025, and the 18-29 three-times-more-likely finding) come from the FTC's Consumer Sentinel Network as reported in its rental-scam Data Spotlight, Rental scams hit home with $65 million in reported losses (December 2025). Texas state-level figures (162,101 fraud reports, $897.9 million in losses, a $500 median, and the record $12.5 billion national total, up 25%) are from the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network 2024 Data Book (March 2025). Social-media scam figures ($2.1 billion in 2025, about eight times the 2020 level, Facebook as the top platform) are from the FTC Data Spotlight, Reported losses to scams on social media eight times higher than in 2020 (April 2026). Real-estate and AI-fraud figures ($275.1 million across 12,368 complaints; 22,000-plus AI-related complaints and about $893 million) are from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) 2025 Annual Report (April 2026), and the injection-attack figure (40% year over year) and deepfake-selfie figure (58% in 2025) are from the Entrust 2026 Identity Fraud Report. The 93.3% apartment-operator fraud figure is from a National Multifamily Housing Council survey (2025). The headline DFW metro figure (10.9% of DFW renters lost money to apartment scams, the highest of the 30 largest US metros, versus roughly 6.4% nationally, with Houston at 4.7% and San Antonio at 2.2%) is from an Apartment List renter survey of 1,126 US renters, with at least 50 respondents per metro, as reported by CultureMap Dallas. Note on limitations: the FTC does not publish a public metro-by-metro rental-scam ranking, so the DFW-specific figure relies on the Apartment List survey; where no DFW number exists we use Texas or national figures and label them as such. Survey and self-reported figures reflect only reported cases, and the FTC notes most scams are never reported, so true losses are almost certainly higher. Dollar figures are nominal (not inflation-adjusted). Figures current as of the FTC and FBI releases cited above; last reviewed July 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Related

• →Run a free DFW listing scam check
• →DFW rental scam report (renter guide)
• →DFW vacant-land seller impersonation scam
• →Report a scammer (phone / email / handle)