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Apartment Rental Scam

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Apartment Rental Scam Reports & Reviews (53)

- New York, NY, USA • Dec 11, 2024
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The scammer requested money for security deposit. Has a real broker's name, phone number, picture, email.

Made a wire transfer through Discover bank.

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- Brooklyn, NY, USA • Nov 12, 2024
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Through a friend of a friend, I found a bedroom for rent in a 5 bedroom apartment at 185 Thomas S Boyland Street—listed by Apex Real Estate Consultancy. Their agent Kelly showed me the unit and referred me to their leasing agent Jorge Vega to proceed. I filled out an application and gave them relevant renter information (bank accounts, rent payments, pay stubs, etc) and put a $620 "good faith deposit" down (they wanted $1200 but PayPal wouldn't send the other half) to secure the room. I made this deposit on 8/16 with an expected move in before September.

As September approached Jorge's communication dropped off and in the first week of September the deal fell through as, according to Jorge, the landlord allegedly ghosted Apex consultancy. On 9/4 I told him over the phone I would like my deposit back, which included a good faith refund should our renter application be denied. Apex did not process my refund until 9/23 and I was told to allow 7 business days for the return of my deposit (though the friend of a friend who referred me to the unit) received his refund of $775 in less than 7 business days).

It is now 11/12 and I have not received my refunded deposit yet. Since the official processing of my request I have received empty promises ("looking into it", "will get back to you") and Jorge Vega completely ducked my calls for all of October.

Last Friday I told them via email and text that I would be filing formal complaints here and with the NY Real Estate Licensing Service as well as pursuing the return of my money in small claims court. That got Jorge to finally call me Sunday 11/10 and tell me my money would be returned Tuesday 11/12. It's 11/12 and still no money.

Avoid JORGE VEGA and Apex Real Estate Consultancy at all costs. Either malignantly incompetent or willingly fraudulent.

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• Nov 26, 2024
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I was also scammed by him, and am trying to get in contact with his other victims. Please email me at [email protected].

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- Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA • Nov 04, 2024
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Estaba quiendo rentar un apartamento pero pague todo el dinero i el dia que melo iban entregar nadie se presento nadie bolbio a contestar los telefonos son 4 numeros de telefono i nadie los bolbio a contestar

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- Brooklyn, NY, USA • Oct 24, 2024
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Jorge (George) Vega presented himself as a broker with a company called Apex Real Estate Consultancy. His "assistant" Sara showed me an apartment at 432 Stockholm St. and asked me to send a deposit to reserve the room through Paypal. Two additional people were showed rooms and we all submitted deposits and applications to move into this apartment at the end of September. After what was supposed to be our move-in date, George told us that the landlord had decided to rent to another group of people, even though we had put deposits down and all qualified for the apartment. He then told us to request our refunds through his office. We requested our refunds and the administrator sent the other two people confirmations that they would receive their refunds in 7 business days. She didn't send me a confirmation and George completely stopped answering my calls or messages. After weeks of pressing, the administrator finally sent me a confirmation with a later processing date then the other two. They have been making excuses for weeks, blaming it on religious holidays, and no one has received their deposits back yet. He strung us along, left us without housing, and still has our deposits which is impeding our ability to find housing.

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- Ridgewood, NY, USA • Oct 24, 2024
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, [email protected], [email protected] cashapp: $hiphipJorg

he asked for the money as a deposit on an apartment and then over the course of several months kept telling me that the rooms in the apartment hadnt been filled and that he needed time to find me a new apartment, then finally I asked for a refund and it has been several more months and I still have not received any payment.

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- Woodhaven, NY, USA • Sep 27, 2024
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I was looking for an accommodation for 15 days in the month of september i was not getting any positive response when 1 girl sent me an message and showed me few options where i wanted the place to live she advised me to lease an apartment which she was offering me on a reasonable price. I thought for 2 days and then i signed agreement and she asked to pay application fee of 100 dollars and asked me to pay 200 dollars for deposit which i did but the day before moving she asked me to pay cleaning fee of 130 dollars so then i realized its becoming out of my budget and i asked her to terminate my contract. She promised me that i will get my money all refunded if i pay 50 dollars refund fee which i paid but they are not sending me any refund and asking me to pay money for dispatch etc

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- Harrisburg, PA, USA • Jul 18, 2024
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There's an apartment for rent on North 4th Street in Harrisburg Pa on Craigslist. The lady had us use different links to fill out an application, background check, & credit check through Internet messages on Facebook. After all of the above she quit responding & the meeting we had to see the place never happened. & I was informed she could be using the information to order credit cards or ect.

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- Manassas, VA, USA • Jul 16, 2024
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********************************************************************************...⇄ Craigslist listing. I called, Verizon gave me a kickback error that it couldn't complete the call. I called back again because sometimes that happens, the call got dropped, and then it worked the third time. Person was pushing for me to complete the credit check while I was on the phone, so I lied (unlike me) and said I didn't have my credit card number and had to do it later. Person asked me for CashApp card or any other card. I don't use CashApp, so that was the truth in saying no. They didn't want to hang up, but I got them off the phone. Other people online say the credit site is a scam. I clicked the link to go to the site and thankfully have Norton.

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- New York, NY, USA • Jul 10, 2024
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I approached a person with an advertisement for a room at 95 Christopher St,New York,NY 10014, USA. I did this through the phone number 404-492-9656 provided on the Roomi App website. There was also the email [email protected] which I didn't use. The person claimed to be Brianna Garcia Keziah and sent me photos of the room and said it was in high demand and I needed to do a deposit of 200$ to secure it. I did pay the money through Zelle to someone named Kalaysha J Baylor through an account by the email [email protected]. After that I asked for a confirmation that I would have the room, she confirmed I would. She refused to get on a call with me or schedule an appointment to see the place saying that she was busy and had an emergency. The next day on 9th July 2024 she started to asked for 500$ more. There was initially talk of 1400$ at the time of move in, 700 Monty rent and 700 deposit. I was asked for only part of the deposit to secure the place but I refused to give the whole 700$ before seeing the place. She started calling me stubborn and said I would lose the place to another person willing to give her the 700$. I asked many times to get on a call just to be able to trust that she was who she said she was, but she refused. She sent me photos of her and her ID card and then photos of documents which seemed like basic tenant agreements but these were templates easily available on the internet. After I asked her to return my deposit saying I didn't want the place she kept saying that the deposit is not made in full that I have to pay a full 700$ to be refunded. She claims Kalaysha is someone her superior and I tried to get in touch with this person via email but I got no reply.

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- Ithaca, NY, USA • Jun 17, 2024
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Contacted me from an nyc student housing page on Facebook about a potential listing, the listing interested me so I inquired further. Did not reveal some important details about the property including its specific address and wouldn’t let me see it in person. Told me I had to sign a lease within 48 hours of submitting an application and pay the deposit and first months rent equating to 2300. Upon further research, the brokers and their company associated with the attempted sale are not registered with the state and the apartment is not listed anywhere.

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- New York, NY, USA • Apr 26, 2024
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Report Description: Beware of Rental Scam

Scammer Details:

Name: Keith McCool & Kathryn McCool

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (850) 242-0023

Description:

A fraudulent rental scheme has been identified involving a property located at 70 Clark St #3F, Brooklyn, NY 11201. The scammer, operating under the guise of Keith McCool, has been emailing potential renters. The email falsely claims that the property is available for rent due to the alleged relocation of the McCool family to Florida.

Key Points of the Scam:

Absence of Property Inspection: The scammer states that they are unable to show the property in person due to their relocation. Prospective tenants are only allowed to inspect the exterior of the property.

Request for Deposits: A security deposit of $1,900 and the first month's rent of $1,900 are requested upfront. Additionally, a $100 deposit per pet is required.

Use of Photos and Application Form: The scammer attaches photos of the property's interior and a rental application form to provide the illusion of legitimacy and the application form asks people to write their personal information including their social number.

No Property Management Involvement: The scammer claims to have opted against using property management agencies, citing high costs and difficulties, and instead chooses to rent the property themselves.

I felt like there were too many suspicious things so I googled the phone number and I could find another victim of this scam. The story is literally the same as what I got and the scammer only changed their name and the unit.

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• Jun 06, 2024
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Thanks as we got the exact same scam story for a property in Boulder, Peloton apts, unit 205.
Mr Steven McDonald and his wife Jeanne McDonald relocated to Florida and can't show the property due to their relocation. They requested 1400$ for the rent and attached the same pics as shown on the rental website I found the ad on. This property pops up on every rental websites I was looking at; Zillow, Trulia, Bumper, etc. Thanks for adding your story! I'll add the contact details I got from him right now.

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• May 07, 2024
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Thank you for posting! Same exact story coming from this email address being used to scam potential renters on an apartment in Chicago.

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- Jackson Heights, NY, USA • Apr 10, 2024
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I was looking for an apartment in craiglist, when I came accross the listing. I reached out via the means provided and the person names Samuel reached out via text message and asked me to fill out an application at the following link: http://scores468.housingrents.us/

I noticed that the link seemed different from the known credit score companies so I did additional research and realized that this is a scam. the person sent me the following email:

Hello!

Here is the application link - http://scores468.housingrents.us/

It's just a soft check for your background, including a credit check.

You will get an application form for a background check after completing your credit check.

It will charge you only $29.95 for the verification, which is also totally refundable. You can cancel the subscription anytime you want after getting the report.

Complete the procedure now.

After the procedure is complete, please let me know.

Best Regards

Samuel

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- College Point, NY, USA • Apr 01, 2024
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She’s scamming people telling they will help them apply for apartments.

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- Hialeah, FL, USA • Mar 09, 2024
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The scammer is posing as a Realtor asking for a filing fee which will be refundable if the property is not to your liking. He then he asks for more money to show the property. For example a key fee, to show the inside of the house. An appointment is made, but the realtor never shows up. When you ask for a refund, the agent says a refund is not able to be given.

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- Hyattsville, MD, USA • Feb 15, 2024
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I was seeking a low income apartment. I cant recall if I found them on Craigslist or Google. I was told to enter My social security and debit card numbers for a $1 payment inorder to retrieve My credit report, while the 1st male representative stayed on the phone. I was then transferred to another...now female, who did the same thing. Hence My account information being entered twice. For the past 4 days this scam having been trying ot deduct $39.95 @ a time. They need to be found and brought to justice. Its already harder after covid...untop of all this price raise in the economic and not on the employees side of the tracks. Its hard to work only to get scammed by these low lives, lazy, none productive citizens.

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- Washington, DC, USA • Feb 03, 2024
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same as written above, was a fake craiglist ad for an apartment

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- Albuquerque, NM, USA • Jan 26, 2024
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I am a traveling nurse and was looking for housing in Palo Alto California. I was messaged by Sheena Harkness about a potential rental at 200 Sheridan Ave Palo Alto California 94306. I sent in a rental application with my DOB, previous employer, home address and driver license number. They did ask for my SSN but I did not provided that information. Today 1/25/24 I received an email from [email protected] about being approved for the rental and that I needed to send 3,300 dollars for Down deposit first month rent and application fee. The options of payment they gave me was direct deposit Apple Pay Zelle google pay cash app or a wire transfer. I asked Sheena Harkness to FaceTime or phone call me to verify who she was but she said that was impossible and I could visit https://novahomerentals.com for verification. This website does not have her realtor license number. So when I asked Sheena Harkness for her license number, she told me to refer to the website and I should look elsewhere for housing.

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- Slidell, LA, USA • Jan 05, 2024
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The Representative Sheena Harkness on facebook is targeting a Travel Nurse Housing page called Travel Nurse Housing-Gypsy Nurse Group. They contacted me based on a post that I added looking for an apartment in Springfield,IL. I was sent a business email with a business and website attached to rent the apartment. I was sent an application, a lease and payment confirmation after I paid. After payment I contacted them to prepare to move in the apartment and I was asked for additional money for electricity that was said to be included on the lease. Once I noticed this I declined the offer and asked for a refund which I was assured I would get but have not received. I asked to call and talk to management and never received a number to call.

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- Remsen, NY, USA • Dec 28, 2023
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Rental scam originally posted on craigslist, looked legitimate with connections to "united realty group" which appears to be a legitimate company as well as displaying a valid real estate brokers license number. After multiple emails and some due diligence I was sent an invoice and sent $1300 to a Zelle address: "Beneficiary Zelle Id: [email protected]" another Zelle address that was provided: "Beneficiary Zelle Id: +1 (646) 359-3141" and the paypal address provided: Paypal Email: lizrodriguez1995@ yahoo.com. I was looking to rent an apartment in south beach Miami, I reached out to the email provided on Craigslist and I was guided to their site to fill out a lease application I was eventually approved and sent the invoice.

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- Springfield Gardens, NY, USA
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Real estate broker reached out to me in regard to apartments, I’ve been searching . Claimed to help me and fill out $175 application fee,. Sent to his email address Zelle payment . Stated it’s refundable , I sent the money , and later noticed suspicious activity, so I emailed and messaged for a refund , and now the page is gone. Via Instagram page

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