The state of housing scams in Humboldt County

By Winter Music

After two years living on the beautiful Humboldt campus sharing a dorm room with strangers and experiencing back pain from the mattresses, I chose to start looking for off-campus housing. Who would think a cozy town like Arcata would be plagued by scammers? But then again, what else can you expect from random websites like Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. Getting bait and switched from a listing on the Humboldt.edu rental listings resources was a different level of upsetting.

I spent about a month believing that I would soon get my own apartment. Panicked by the thought of losing a good housing opportunity, I forgot to be cautious. I sent the down payment and we scheduled a time to meet when I realized that someone was living in, what I thought was, my apartment. I had a sinking feeling I had taken risks I didn’t need to by sending deposit money before meeting the “landlord” in person. I didn’t make sure that the way I sent money could be cancelled, and I didn’t walk away when I first had doubts. When I went to the house, the “landlord” had dropped off the face of the planet. Suddenly, all the worries and concerns I had started to make more sense. I freaked out when I realized how bad the mistake I had just made was, but the damage had been done. I learned the hard way that small towns like Arcata can scam you just like everywhere else.

While that website I got scammed on has been removed and replaced by a list of reputable rental companies, it’s important to know that scammers can find their way into places you might not expect. So when you take the leap, and move from campus into your own place, be sure to never send over any money until you’ve been to the location in person, met the landlord and signed documents.

Winter Music, Copy Editor, wlm38@humboldt.edu