Breaking news
A Los Angeles resident changed into arrested final week for allegedly orchestrating a condominium rip-off that netted her over $200,000 from unsuspecting victims, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Surong Li, 29, of Irvine, California, allegedly posed as a property manager and entered into rent agreements with renters for properties she didn’t legitimately signify. To quit the diagram, Li both fabricated the existence of condominium properties totally or did now not switch funds to the true property house owners, in accordance to legislation enforcement.
Li is facing more than one costs, including worthy theft, possession of unsuitable identification, and theft by fraudulent pretense.
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Sadly, such scams are no longer weird and wonderful.
In June, Jonathan Daugherty, a realtor in Jacksonville, Florida, chanced on duplicates of his properties on housing boards on sites love Craigslist and Fb, News4Jax reported.
The fraudsters lured hopeful applicants and charged application funds and deposits as much as $500, despite having no staunch ties to the properties. Daugherty alerted the police and took valuable precautions, equivalent to inserting indicators on the property to warn renters in opposition to enticing with random participants, and that there may per chance be “perfect one diagram” to rent the property.
Breaking news Guidelines on how to steer clear of a property rip-off
To safeguard in opposition to such scams, the Federal Exchange Commission recommends plenty of programs including:
- Inspecting properties in particular person or nearly about
- Verifying condominium agents’ IDs
- Checking tax review internet sites for deepest landlords
- Staying cautious of unusually low condominium prices
- Refraining from sharing deepest or monetary knowledge
- Heading off certain price programs equivalent to reward cards and cryptocurrency
