‘It’s heartless’: Orlando family scammed out of thousands in home rental scheme

An Orange County family is worried about ending up on the street after losing thousands of dollars in a home rental scam. The family even moved into the home only to be booted out by law enforcement the next day.

Quanesha White showed Action 9 a pile of her family’s belongings thrown haphazardly in the corner after they had to suddenly move back into their old apartment.

“That’s why this is packed like that. It’s random,” she told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal after she and her family were kicked out of what they thought was their new rental home.

White said, “We got in the home and we stayed there one night and then the next day around the afternoon time the police came.”

It turned out the person who rented it to them wasn’t the real landlord.

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She got lured into the scam after a few clicks online. A Facebook ad revealed a home in the area she and her family were looking to rent. The price that was right and the home looked good.

“It was available immediately, and I was able to view it immediately,” White said.

The person advertising the home for rent even provided her with a code to a lockbox that allowed her to get inside and tour the home. They also sent her a realistic looking lease. At the time, she had no reason to believe she was being scammed.

White said, “I thought it was his apartment. He said he was the owner.”

She made three separate payments to the scammer with a direct payment from her Chime bank account to the scammers Chime account.

“I thought Chime to Chime would be safer, because it was my bank to his bank account. And all you have to do is look up the person’s name and you can send transfer the money,” she told Action 9.

But it wasn’t any safer. She lost more than $2200 and Chime informed her the money transfer was the same as cash. The scammer stopped responding and even blocked her on the Chime app when she demanded her money back.

“It’s heartless and it’s dirty. I work very hard for my money. Very hard,” White said.

According to the FBI real estate scams, including rental scams, have cost Americans nearly $900 million over the past three years and that’s just what was reported to the federal government.

Attorney Jay Mobley with the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association said, “It’s devastating. I mean, I’ve had some folks who’ve lost, you know, $6000 or $7000 dollars and the bad part was they didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Mobley told Action 9 his office sees two of these cases a week and it’s very difficult for people to recover the money once they’ve been scammed.

“You should file a police report early, give them as much information as possible. That will increase your odds of getting some of that money back,” he said.

Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal contacted Chime and the company told him it thoroughly reviewed Quanesha White’s case and stands by its decision and won’t return any funds at this time.

A spokesman for Chime quoted a national news article that states banks are not responsible for payments lost in these peer-to-peer scams.

Still, Quanesha White worries about keeping her family off the streets and believes the scammers will pay one way or another.

“You don’t have to believe in God for him to barbecue your a***, and I believe that,” she said.

Before renting a place, find out who owns the property and ask for identification from the landlord. If you never meet the property manager or owner in person that’s a red flag. Also, never pay deposits by cash, wire transfer or gift cards.