Rental Scams in Shreveport

Where to Report Rental Fraud in Shreveport

If you have already lost money or been deceived by a fake listing, report the criminal act to the Shreveport Police Department. The department's non-emergency line is 318-673-7300; at the voice menu you select the option for a call taker to file a report. Police headquarters is located at 1234 Texas Avenue in downtown Shreveport. A written police report number is often required before a bank, wire service, or payment app will consider reversing a fraudulent transfer, so file promptly.

For deceptive-business complaints, use the Louisiana Attorney General's Consumer Protection Section, which accepts consumer disputes and offers a voluntary mediation process. You can file online through the office's Consumer Dispute form or by mail to 1885 North Third Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. The office can be reached at (225) 326-6400 or the toll-free consumer line (800) 351-4889. Note that the Attorney General handles consumer and unfair-trade-practice matters and directs outright criminal fraud to local law enforcement, so serious cases often warrant both a police report and a consumer complaint.

Fraud that crossed state lines or originated online, such as a wired deposit to an out-of-state 'landlord,' can also be reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov and to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov. These federal channels help investigators connect complaints against the same scammer across multiple victims.

Verifying a Landlord or Property in Caddo Parish

Shreveport sits in Caddo Parish, and property ownership is public record. The Caddo Parish Assessor's Office offers a free online search at caddoassessor.org where you can look up a property by owner name, subdivision, or Section-Township-Range and see the recorded owner, legal description, assessed value, and a GIS map of the parcel. The assessor's office is at 501 Texas Street, Room 102, in downtown Shreveport (318-226-6704).

Before sending any money, confirm the name on the assessor record matches the person claiming to be your landlord. A mismatch, or a 'landlord' who refuses to let you view the unit in person or insists on wiring a deposit sight-unseen, is a strong warning sign. Deeds and mortgages are recorded through the Caddo Parish Clerk of Court, giving a second avenue to confirm who actually holds title. Legitimate property managers will readily provide an address you can independently verify against these records.

Louisiana Deposit Rules Renters Should Know

Louisiana's Lessee's Deposit Act (La. R.S. 9:3251) governs security deposits statewide, including in Shreveport. The landlord must return the deposit, or the balance after any deductions, within one month after the lease terminates and the tenant vacates. If any amount is withheld, the landlord must send an itemized statement explaining the deductions within that same one-month window. Louisiana sets no statutory cap on the deposit amount itself, so the figure is whatever the lease specifies.

One tenant obligation is easy to miss: you must furnish the landlord a forwarding address at the end of the lease so the statement and refund can be mailed to you. If a landlord willfully fails to return the deposit or provide the itemized statement, R.S. 9:3252 allows the tenant to recover the amount wrongfully withheld plus damages of $300 or twice the amount wrongfully retained, whichever is greater, and failure to refund within 30 days of a written demand is treated as willful. Because there is no deposit cap here, an outsized upfront demand, for example several months' rent wired before you have seen a lease, is a practical red flag rather than a legal violation, and worth pausing on regardless of the exact local rent range.