"When I called they said that [other] people had complained," he said. HHO said yesterday that Qian's complaint was the first they heard of the scam. A Somerville Police representative said HHO was notified on Oct. 2, over a week before Qian called.
Qian said he wished HHO could do more to prevent the scams.
"They were not helpful with my complaint...they just told me they would remove the listing and that I should go see the Somerville police," Qian said.
HHO does not run security checks to prevent such instances of fraud.
"We are very clear that ...it is up to users [of the office apartment listings] to do security checks. It's much like the classifieds section of a newspaper," said Wrinn. HHO does, however, ask that all students who experience any such instances of housing fraud report them to HUPD and HHO.