Attorney General James and FTC Sue Online Apartment Finder for Defrauding Renters

 

Roomster Bought and Posted Tens of Thousands of Fake Reviews,

Published Unverified Listings to Scam Renters out of Millions

  New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today sued Roomster — an online platform that claims to help individuals find apartments and roommates — and its executives for defrauding millions of users nationwide. The lawsuit alleges that Roomster, a Manhattan-based company, failed to verify apartments submitted to its website, posted non-existent apartment listings, and scammed consumers out of tens of millions of dollars. Roomster, which is used predominantly by low-income renters and students, also bought and uploaded tens of thousands of fake positive reviews on app stores to boost traffic to its platform. Attorney General James and the FTC are co-leading a coalition of six attorneys general to stop Roomster’s deceptive practices and secure restitution for impacted individuals nationwide.

“There is a term for lying and deceiving your customers to grow your business: Fraud. Roomster used illegal and unacceptable practices to grow its business at the expense of low-income renters and students,” said Attorney General James. “Unlike Roomster’s unverified listings and fake reviews, their deceptive business practices will not go unchecked. I am proud to lead this effort with the FTC to protect low-income renters and students defrauded by Roomster.”

“Roomster polluted the online marketplace with fake reviews and phony listings, making it even harder for people to find affordable rental housing,” said Samuel Levine, director, FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Along with our state partners, we aim to hold Roomster and its top executives accountable and return money to hardworking renters.”

The investigation leading to the lawsuit uncovered a deceptive scheme by Roomster that predominantly impacted students and low-income renters. As alleged in the complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, Roomster posted fake, unverified listings on various websites that directed consumers to their platform and encouraged them to pay for a monthly subscription to access the listing. It is estimated that Roomster defrauded thousands of low-income renters out of $27 million through fake listings and reviews.

The company claimed to post accurate and verified apartment listings, including rental properties, room rentals, sublets, and roommate requests. However, the investigation found that Roomster did not actually verify listings posted on its platform by users or ensure that they were real or authentic. Undercover investigators were easily able to post a listing with a U.S. Postal Office commercial facility address on the platform. The listing provided by the undercover investigators had fake rental specifications and remained on the platform for several months. At no point did Roomster contact the undercover investigators to verify the address, the specifics of the apartment, or the legitimacy of the email or other personal information of the lister.

To lend credibility to its unverified listings, Roomster’s executives saturated the internet with tens of thousands of fake 4- and 5-star reviews. Roomster’s CEO, John Shriber, and Chief Technology Officer, Roman Zaks, bought more than 20,000 fake reviews from Jonathan Martinez, who does business as AppWinn, to increase traffic to their platform. Mr. Martinez used more than 2,500 fake iTunes accounts, as well as fake Gmail accounts, to push out fake reviews on Roomster’s apps. Before Mr. Martinez became aware of this investigation, his website stated, “Buy app reviews & boost your app ranking.”

The lawsuit alleges that Roomster’s executives were deliberate about how to post the fake reviews to appear real and increase the chances of it being published on app stores. They called this scheme a “drip campaign.” Mr. Martinez told Roomster’s executives that fake reviews had to be “dripped” at a “slower pace” in order to “stick.” Similarly, Mr. Zaks told Mr. Martinez to spread out the reviews to be “constant and random” to increase their chances of getting posted on the app stores. On multiple occasions, Roomster’s executives directed Mr. Martinez to post a random amount of reviews in several countries, specifying in their orders how many reviews should go to each country.

Some examples of the fake 5-star reviews that Roomster bought from Mr. Martinez and published include:

Wonderful!

Roomster is better then [sic] others. Very easy to use. Tons of listing. No scammers, all users are real. Easy to communicate with owners. In a single word FANTASTIC!

like!

I’m a student with a small budget, so I love going through Roomster for sharing my room. It makes finding roommates faster and more efficient. Roomster is a good choice for me!

Roomster is great!

Especially for low-income people who need rented accom[m]odation or those students who need to rent a room because [i]t provides the service with a reasonable price range period.

The sheer volume of positive fake reviews diluted 1-star reviews from real users, such as:

Full of scammers

I highly highly suggest that you do not use this site! Because you will get scammed. This app is loaded with people trying to scam you! Out of every 10 post 8 [sic] are scammers DO NOT USE THIS APP!!

Scam

This app is garbage. I had higher hopes but it completely let me down. Every profile on here seems to be a fake profile and every message I got from people said almost exactly the same thing. Not worth it.

Don’t waste your time

I couldn’t give it zero. It won’t let me view things so I got a 7 day subscription. Reached out to 38 listers. Got response from only 1 legitimate lister. The rest was all scam and 5 days of headache. Steer clear. They don’t vet

Mr. Martinez was also sued today in the suit against Roomster and its principals. Mr. Martinez has agreed to a Consent Judgment in which he agreed to a permanent injunction and the payment of $100,000 in monetary relief.

Through their lawsuit, Attorney General James, the FTC, and the states are seeking a permanent injunction to stop Roomster’s fraudulent practices, nationwide restitution for those who have been impacted, and civil penalties.

Joining Attorney General James and the FTC in today’s lawsuit are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Maryland.

Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State’s Progress Combating COVID-19 - AUGUST 30, 2022

 Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing, and Treatment

44 Statewide Deaths Reported Since August 26th

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.  

"As we look toward the fall, it is vital that New Yorkers remain vigilant in keeping themselves and their loved ones safe and healthy," Governor Hochul said. "Take advantage of the vaccine by staying up to date on doses. Consider testing before gatherings or travel, and if you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:   

• Cases Per 100k - 17.17
• 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 21.09
• Test Results Reported - 61,846
• Total Positive - 3,355
• Percent Positive - 4.78%**   
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 6.35%  
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,329 (+8) 
• Patients Newly Admitted - 856
• Patients in ICU - 248 (-3)  
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 94 (-1)
• Total Discharges - 336,560 (+718)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 44 
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 57,628

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

Important Note: HERDS data collection from health care facilities was paused due to the weekend from 8/27/2022-8/28/2022. Data from those days were submitted in Monday's report. Where noted, totals include three days of cumulative data from 8/27/2022-8/29/2022. As a result, some data may appear higher than recent trends. Data affected is marked with an asterisk.   

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity. 

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 73,656

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings. 

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows **: 

Borough	Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022	Sunday, Aug. 28, 2022	Monday, Aug. 29, 2022
Bronx	6.96%	6.96%	6.86%
Kings	4.63%	3.89%	3.85%
New York	4.96%	4.98%	4.98%
Queens	7.19%	7.01%	6.87%
Richmond	6.15%	5.83%	5.66%

BRONX COALITION AGAINST UPZONING STATEMENT ON MAYOR ADAMS RECKLESS RALLY FOR BRUCKNER UPZONING

 

BRONX COALITION AGAINST UP ZONING

The Bronx Coalition Against Up Zoning today released the following statement from its President John Cerini, in response to Mayor Eric Adams' reckless rally in support of Bruckner upzoning.  "Mayor Eric Adams has been bought and paid for by special interests and he is willfully ignoring the voice of our community. Our voice is loud and clear: we do not support this upzoning. When this neighborhood was majority white, it was downzoned. Now that this is a majority hispanic neighborhood that is working and middle class and safe, it is being upzoned. How is that fair and eqiuitable?  "Worse, we are being upzoned for a project that won't be transparent on how many apartments they are building and what effect it will have on infrastructure. The traffic study was conducted in 2020, during the height of COVID lockdowns and is laughable. We already have classrooms over capacity and a waitlist of students for our public schools - most of whom are Hispanic. Not to mention the fact that the developers (old white men), are problematic with a record of flipping developments and bankruptcy.  "Mayor Adams needs to rethink his support of this upzoning. It is an unjust development which will destroy a minority community. It's 2022, New York City needs to be more thoughtful and equitable in its land use policies. And most important of all, the community doesn't want this upzoning and development. WE are his constituents, NOT the developers and we WILL be heard."