The Ark-Tex Council of Governments (ATCOG) wants to warn residents of a new phone scam promising “free rent” through the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, formerly known as Section 8 housing.
Scammers are targeting area residents with calls offering a free month of rent through the program. These calls are fraudulent.
This scam joins other housing assistance fraud schemes including:
- Fake registration websites charging fees for HCV waiting lists.
- Fraudulent property listings demanding wire transfers.
- Social media ads promising to expedite HCV applications.
- Websites impersonating government housing portals.
To protect yourself from being scammed, ATCOG recommends you:
- Never pay fees for housing assistance applications.
- Contact your local housing authority directly to verify offers.
- Never share personal information.
- Never wire money in exchange for a housing offer.
- Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
If someone contacts you about a scam involving housing assistance, please reach out to the Office of Housing and Urban Development’s Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) at CIRT@hud.gov.
For legitimate HCV program information, contact ATCOG at 1-800-988-3331 or visit the Housing Program page on our website.