Apartment rental scams rising in Boston area. FBI calls it "a legitimate threat."

With college classes starting soon in the Boston area, students who still need to rent off-campus apartments are feeling the pressure. The FBI says that's attracting scammers.

One of them got to Boston University graduate student Shana Sargeant.

She was looking for a sublet for the fall semester and found what she thought was the perfect apartment on Sublet.com. The Beacon Street location was close to school, and it was a price she could afford.

"It was $1,800 a month," she told WBZ-TV's I-Team. "All utilities included, studio furnished and it was in a good location."

"It ticked enough boxes that it seemed good enough," Sargeant said.

She liked the listing on the website and quickly got a message from the property manager.

"He was like saying, 'Ok, here's the agreement, here's the lease if you want to sign it and make the payment. We can set up a tour this weekend,'" Sargeant said.

She asked to see the apartment and was told she could fill out the application and make the deposit by wire transfer. Once that was done, she would be allowed to tour the apartment and pick up the keys.

"I felt rushed to secure the spot because he said somebody else was also interested," Sargeant said.

Sight unseen, she filled out the application, and her mother sent the wire transfer.

"It was $5,280, I believe, which was security and the first few months," Sargeant told the I-Team.

But when she went to tour the apartment, no one was there.

"We definitely have seen an uptick in rental scams," said Ted Docks, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston division. "We have over 490 victims and we see that they reported losses of $2.6 million. So, this is a legitimate issue. It's a legitimate threat."

The FBI said fraudsters target college students struggling with high demand for off-campus apartments and low inventory. Some of the red flags to watch out for include pressure to act fast, not being able to see the apartment and looking for the deposit to be paid by wire transfer.

"I mean, obviously, felt stupid about it because I feel like I know better," Sargeant said.

She's not alone. The FBI suspects the apartment rental fraud is under reported for that very reason. Getting the money back once it's wired is not easy.

"Wire transfers are very dangerous," Docks said.

"If they can act right away, there's always a better chance in which we can potentially work with our law enforcement partners, work with financial institutions to recover some of the money. However, unfortunately, a lot of times, there's some time that passes between when they realize that they've been scammed and that's very difficult to track the money. Sometimes that money is passing through many different bank accounts at that point."

It's a lesson Sargeant learned the hard way.

"Not wire transfer anything ever probably and make sure I can see the place before I sign anything," she told the I-Team.

She reported the fraud to the FBI, but several days had passed. Sublet.com did not respond to the I-Team's request for comment. The website does list a number of rental tips for tenants.