VICTIMS OF RENTAL SCAM SCRAMBLE TO FIND NEW HOME !!!!

[Daanyeer]

Source: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S193 ... ml?cat=500

Posted at: 01/22/2011 9:13 PM | Updated at: 01/23/2011 11:00 AM
By: Charlie Pabst, KOB.com


A family with eight children is being forced to move out of their new home after finding out they were victims of a scam.

Emilia Munoz, her husband, and eight children thought they had found a beautiful new rental home with an even more attractive rate.

"We got it off of Craigslist," said Munoz.

They immediately contacted who they thought was the owner.

"They met us here and they showed us the house, they told us they have other properties," Munoz continued.

That was two weeks ago. On Friday night, police knocked on their door and told them they were living in a foreclosed home - and the man who pretended to be the owner had scammed them.

Now they have to move out as soon as possible.

"I just think it's unfair because I have kids--and there's other people who rent and have kids--and people just don't have money to rent every other day," said Munoz.

Police are still looking for the scammer but even if he's found, Emilia and her family are out hundreds, even thousands of dollars.

"These renters, the money that they're paying for first and last month's rent - not to mention for the fees for utilities, they're going to have to cut off those utilities when they do move out so they're going to incur a lot of costs they're not going to be able to get back," said APD Officer Robert Gibbs.

How could this happen?

The broker in charge of the home tells us scammers are stealing lockbox keys right from the front doors and posting ads for rent online.

"They're advertising usually below market rents, get the money get the cash and adios," said broker, Ron Campbell.

For Munoz and her family it's more than an inconvenience, affecting every aspect of their lives.

"We just moved in. We paid money to move here. And now they're telling us we're going to have to move. I don't know what's going to happen after this," she said.