Roomster: The Room Rental Platform That Paid for Fake Reviews and Let Scammers List Apartments They Didn't Own

Roomster Corp., an online platform for finding rooms, apartments, and shared housing, and its principals were charged with purchasing fake reviews on the Apple and Google app stores to inflate Roomster's ratings and attract users, while knowingly allowing fraudulent apartment listings on its platform that scammers used to collect deposits from people seeking housing — housing that did not exist, was not available for rent, or whose listing had been posted by someone other than the actual property owner or authorized agent.DOCUMENTED

The combination of fake reviews and fraudulent listings created a scheme that harmed consumers at two stages of their engagement with the platform: at acquisition, where inflated ratings and positive reviews based on fabricated user experiences induced people to trust and use the platform; and at the transaction stage, where fraudulent listings induced deposits from housing seekers who lost their money to criminals operating through Roomster's platform. The platform's knowing allowance of fraudulent listings — despite evidence that scammers were operating on its site — was central to the enforcement action's findings.DOCUMENTED

The Fake Review Purchase

App store ratings — the star ratings displayed on app store product pages alongside user-written reviews — are a primary factor in consumer decisions about whether to download and trust an app. A platform with a high star rating and many positive reviews signals reliability and user satisfaction, while a lower rating signals potential problems. Roomster's purchased reviews were designed to signal reliability it had not earned and to attract users who were making housing decisions — a high-stakes context where the quality and trustworthiness of the platform directly affected whether those users would be exposed to financial fraud.DOCUMENTED

The fake review service that Roomster used created accounts on the app stores — violating those platforms' terms of service — and used those accounts to post positive reviews and ratings for Roomster. The reviews appeared indistinguishable from genuine user reviews but were fabricated by the service rather than written by people who had actually used Roomster. Regulators found that Roomster's principals knew they were purchasing fake reviews and that those reviews would be posted to inflate the company's rating.DOCUMENTED

The Fraudulent Listings

Roomster's platform allowed anyone to post a listing for available housing without requiring verification that the poster had legal authority to rent the listed property. Scammers exploited this open listing model by posting apartments — some using real addresses and photographs copied from legitimate real estate listings — that they did not own or have the right to rent. When a prospective renter contacted the lister and expressed interest, the scammer would collect a deposit or advance rent payment under the pretext of securing the rental, then cease contact — leaving the renter having paid for access to housing that was not actually available to them.DOCUMENTED

Roomster received complaints from users who had been victimized by these scams, and received alerts from state consumer protection agencies and law enforcement about the fraudulent listing pattern. Despite this notice, Roomster did not implement the verification controls or listing review procedures that would have meaningfully reduced the volume of fraudulent listings on its platform. Regulators found that Roomster's response to the fraud complaints was inadequate — that the company continued to benefit commercially from the traffic and engagement generated by all listings on its platform, including the fraudulent ones, without taking adequate steps to protect the housing seekers those listings were designed to defraud.DOCUMENTED

Roomster had complaints from victimized users and alerts from consumer protection agencies about the fraudulent listing problem — and continued operating a platform that allowed scammers to collect deposits from people searching desperately for housing.

Housing Search Fraud and Vulnerable Populations

Housing search fraud causes particular harm because it strikes people at a moment of significant need — often people who are relocating to a new city, leaving an unsafe living situation, or in urgent need of affordable housing. Victims who lose a deposit to a housing scam may not only lose the money but may be left without the housing they were counting on and without the financial resources to quickly secure an alternative. For people living paycheck to paycheck, the loss of a deposit or first month's rent can trigger a housing crisis that takes months to resolve.REVIEWED

The enforcement action requires Roomster to cease purchasing fake reviews, to implement listing verification measures including checking that listers have legal authority to advertise the listed property, to provide refunds to users who paid deposits for fraudulent listings that they reported to Roomster and that Roomster did not take adequate action to address, and to implement a consumer complaint response process with defined resolution timelines. Housing seekers using any online rental platform should use reverse image search to check whether listing photographs appear on other sites under different ownership, should verify the lister's identity before sending any payment, and should never send deposits via wire transfer or gift card — payment methods that scammers prefer because they are difficult to recover once sent.DOCUMENTED

Avoiding Housing Search Fraud

Housing search fraud is preventable with a few consistent protective practices. Never send any payment — deposit, first month's rent, or any fee — before physically visiting the property and meeting the landlord in person, or before verifying through independent channels (like calling the property manager at a verified phone number, not one provided by the lister) that the person collecting the payment has legitimate authority to rent the property. Reverse image search any listing photographs using Google Images or TinEye — fraudulent listings frequently use photographs stolen from legitimate real estate listings, and a search will show if the same images appear under different property addresses. Be especially cautious of listings that offer prices significantly below market rate for the area, that request payment through wire transfer, Venmo, Zelle, or gift cards rather than personal check or money order, or where the "landlord" claims to be abroad and can't show the property in person. Rental scams disproportionately target people in urgent housing need, so the pressure of needing housing quickly should increase rather than decrease your caution level about any request to send money before seeing the property.

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