Tenant scamming others

[Lawrence Fiero]

This is a first for me. I have a tenant who lived downstairs in a duplex. The upstairs tenant moved out and downstairs somehow got keys for that apartment. Downstairs got behind on April payment and on the 15th we started the process of evicting. We were notified the tenant moved out and shut off his electric.  When my contractor showed up to change the locks a couple of people showed up to clean upstairs apartment because they say the rented it from the owner who matches the description of the downstairs tenant. I had relisted both apartments on craigslist and same day this happened I received a phone call from another person saying they were trying to get ahold of the owner to give him the security deposit so they could move in to downstairs apartment. I told them to absolutely not turn over any cash to this gentleman and my agent would call them to get proper background check done.  Both apartment locks have been changed and no one was able to take possession of either apartment. 

    I contacted the police who basically said there was nothing they could do for these people expecting to move in upstairs.  They gave 600 in cash to this scammer. I realize I am lucky to have gotten locks changed before anyone takes possession, however, I am concerned about the ramifications of this tenant to our rental business. I have contacted my attorney but he has never run into this blatant of a thief.  My questions are has anyone else come across this type of scam and if so how should we proceed. It seems like there should be some criminal charges brought against the tenant and I wondered what if any responsibility I have to the people who were duped by this guy? This just happened yesterday and any advice would be appreciated.

[Nathan Gesner]

You can press charges against the downstairs tenant. Contact the new tenants upstairs and collect any evidence you can from them like emails, phone calls, copy of a check, times, dates, etc. Then call the police and file a report. 

And while I feel sorry for the tenants upstairs for getting scammed, that doesn't alleviate their responsibility to pay you what is owed.

Stop using Craigslist. Advertise on Hotpads, Trulia, or Zillow (or all). Learn how to watermark all your photos with your phone number or some other identifying information so people can verify you are the owner.