Action 9 investigates scammers renting out homes they don't own

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Con artists in Charlotte are renting homes that they do not own, leaving renters homeless and out of thousands of dollars.

By the time renters figure out what happened, the scammers are long gone.

Some of these scammers even have keys to the homes, making them more convincing.

Charlene Sherrill said that when she responded to an ad for a north Charlotte home on Craigslist, the scammer met her at the home three times. He even had a key and showed her inside.

She gave him the required six months’ rent up front: $7,000.

Sherrill, who has four children and one on the way, said her family moved in and even decorated the place.

Twelve days later, the real owner and police knocked on the door and told them they had to leave.

"It's a lot to keep a straight face and not to break down to them about the situation that we're in," Sherrill said. "I'm just, I'm still in shock."

Sherrill said she has no money or place to go, so her family has jumped from relative to relative, trying to avoid going to a shelter.

"We have a big family. We can't just go and move in with someone like that," she said.

Javin Daniels is a realtor and was so upset about what he saw in another case, he wrote Action 9 an emotional letter, calling it his worst day as a realtor.

Click the video below to watch a tutorial to confirm property ownership

"It was very emotional and touching for me," he said.

His client was buying an east Charlotte house.

When Daniels checked it out, he said he found a family with five children living there.

"You could just see that they took the time to make this house a home. They had 'love, live, peace' on the wall, the stencils," he said.

Apparently, their scammer also had a key to that home and had shown them the home himself.

Daniels said he was the one who broke it to them that they had to leave.

That family was out about $2,500.

"They were very emotional. She started to cry," he said.

Daniels found that family another place to live and set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for it.

"I just can't kick someone out and have them on the streets, especially with kids," he said.

CMPD officer, Johnathan Frisk, said scammers usually post ads online, ask for a deposit and disappear.

Some scammers are bolder. They know how to get into realtor lock-boxes on doors, or they break into homes and change the locks.

Either way, they get the keys and pose as owners or agents, showing off homes and taking money, before the real owners find out. Then the scammers vanish.

"They want to get somebody in there, try to get a quick security deposit because they know, obviously, the owner is eventually going to come to the house," Frisk said.

Action 9’s Jason Stoogenke asked the victims for the contact information the scammers used, but when he tried to contact them, the emails and phone numbers they gave led to dead ends.

If you are looking to rent:

• Be very careful on sites like Craigslist.
• If that person says he or she is the owner, confirm that.
• If that person says he or she is a realtor, look up that person online to make sure.
• See the home before you put down a deposit.
• Be suspicious if someone asks you to wire money or pay with a prepaid debit card.
  

Cox Media Group