In New York, a swindler tried to sell a rented house

A landlord from New York said that one of the guests, posing as the owner of the property, tried to sell his house. Writes about the scam rochesterfirst.com.

Matt Drouin is a landlord and owner of 117 properties in New York. The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to both renters and homeowners, he said.

Until now, many tenants are unable to pay rent. But there are those who have found a non-standard way out of the situation. “There are tenants who didn’t pay before the pandemic, and then when COVID-19 swept the city, they took advantage of the situation,” says Drowin.

One of the houses he rents is located on Stonewood Avenue. The tenant had not paid his rent for several months, and at some point, Drowin came across an ad on Craigslist, from which he learned that his house was up for sale for $ 45.

Drowin began to investigate and found out that it was his tenant impersonating the owner of the property. He wanted to sell the house and get paid in cash.

The homeowner admitted that this was the first time he encountered such a scam. “And now they are using this situation to hunt other people, which in my opinion is just disgusting,” he says.

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One person, who wished to remain anonymous, almost fell on the hook of swindlers. He said that the tenant showed him the property he allegedly owned. However, the buyer became suspicious because the “owner” wanted to receive payment in cash. “But it doesn't work that way,” said the buyer.

The house, which was advertised for sale on Craigslist, was later cut from $ 45 to $ 15. Lawyer Michael Leess says the price cut is clearly indicative of fraud. “If something on Craigslist sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Liss said.

It would seem that you can just evict the swindler tenant. But doing this in the face of the coronavirus pandemic is not so easy. Moreover, the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo, had previously extended the moratorium on evictions until January 1, 2021.

Drowin says there is nothing the police can do until he catches a swindler tenant on a hot one. But he still urges other landlords to contact the police if they become a victim of scammers.

The publication tried to contact the person who posted the ad, but received no response.