Facebook Marketplace scammer cons Piqua couple out of local apartment, over $1,000
A couple says they’re out over $1,000 after they were scammed while trying to rent an apartment.
Gavin King and Ariel Miller told News Center 7 they were looking through properties to rent on Facebook Marketplace when they found an apartment that interested them in Trotwood.
“I got off work, went and looked at it, got the pin for the lock to get the keys,” King said.
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King said he went inside of the apartment to look at it while on the phone with the scammer, who claimed to be out of town and unable to meet in person.
“It was a nice apartment, and I sent him the deposit and then I kept the keys,” King said. “He told me he’s writing up the lease and the receipt for everything.”
The next morning, King said he sent the scammer the first month’s rent and received the lease and a receipt for that too.
King explained the situation to his fiancée, Miller, who suspected it might be a scam.
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“I was like, ‘No, it’s fine. I got a receipt, I got the lease, I got the keys, we’re good,’ so we started moving in,” he said.
Once the couple started moving in, they learned from a woman who lived at the apartment complex that the person King had spoken with was not the property manager.
Miller got in contact with the actual property manager, who told her that they had been scammed.
The couple had to move their belongings out of the apartment the next day.
Miller told News Center 7 they posted what happened to them on social media to warn others.
“If we wouldn’t have been suspicious and ask more questions we could have stayed the night there,” Miller said. “We don’t know if someone could have broke in— things could have happened to us or children or families and I wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone else.”
Miller says they have somewhere to go for now, but they will have to figure out another place to stay and money to pay for it.
Greg Blatt, president of Dayton Realtors, offered some advice on how people can protect themselves from rental scammers.
“Best thing to do is do your due diligence,” Blatt said. “The scammers will make it sound very enticing, you might see that the rental rate is below market value, which should be a red flag, they always try to create a sense of urgency, they’ll try to make you believe that there are other people interested in the property.”
Blatt also recommended to Google the person to make sure they aren’t scamming you.
“Oftentimes, you’ll see the person may have other complaints filed against them for doing these scams, or you may find out that the property isn’t a legitimate property,” he said.
Blatt also said to verify the address yourself and make sure that the photo that is being posted matches the photo that you have.
The number one thing is to never wire money to anyone, Blatt said.
“Make sure that you do that in person, don’t send a wire because once you’ve sent that money, it’s gone,” he said.
