LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. — Imagine being a young couple, moving out of your parents home for the first time and into a rental. Then, you're accused of being a squatter.
That's what happened to a Lehigh Acres couple who moved into a home, not knowing they were victims of a scam.
WATCH SENIOR REPORTER KAITLIN KNAPP'S REPORT BELOW TO SEE HOW IT HAPPENED:
"Nothing can prepare you for that moment," said Angira Lopez. "He [the realtor] let us know we were scammed and that the police were on the way."
Lopez and her boyfriend Joshua were scammed out of $2,650.
"Just thinking back makes me emotional. I didn't believe it was true," Lopez said.
The scam was pretty calculated. She found an ad on Craigslist for a rental, and got in contact with the landlord to check it out.
When they got to the home, the "landlord" wasn't there, so they called him.
"He said no I'm not here, but I'll give you the code to the lock box," Lopez said.
The landlord walked them through the home over the phone, and Lopez said he knew it well.
They loved the house and decided to move forward, but the man wanted all the money up front.
"My boyfriend was like no, we'll send you half of the money, you send us the lease, we'll send you the rest," Lopez explained.
So they did.
"We read through this [the lease] and everything," she said.
The lease, she says, seemed legitimate between the names on it, the terms and what you would expect.
Once they signed it, the rest of the money was sent. It was sent to a Zelle of another woman, who claimed to be the landlord's wife using a number with a Houston area code.
They were in the house for a week, and then someone came to the property.
"We had a showing from a potential tenant going out there and they said, 'hey, there's a car in the driveway, there's dog barking,'" said Adam Bartomeo, owner of Bartomeo Realty and Property Management.
He showed up the next day and told the couple they had been scammed by a fake landlord.
"I wasn't surprised to hear that, but I felt terrible for them, absolutely terrible for them," Bartomeo said.
A police report was filed by Lopez for the scam and Bartomeo because the couple was technically squatting.
"I fell to the floor crying," Lopez said.
The couple, feeling defeated, started packing up the house. They got a storage unit and was taking one last trip with a rented truck — until they got a phone call.
"We did waive one month's rent for them, so their first month is absolutely free," Bartomeo said.
They also waived some fees and Lopez said the company worked with them to pay everything else in installments.
The couple couldn't believe it. However, questions remained, like how the fake landlord got access to the house in the first place.
"The scammer presented themselves to us as a legitimate prospect," Bartomeo said. "We gave them the code and that's how they were able to get in."
When Bartomeo found the scam online, he called the scammer, trying to figure out any systems used to do the scam. However, he didn't get a call back.
As for the ad — it was just copy and pasted from the legitimate post, which Lopez said was posted again after they tried to call the scammer.
"No remorse from the guy. No nothing, he just did it and didn't look twice or think twice," Lopez said.
Through all this, both the couple and Bartomeo have learned lessons.
Bartomeo reached out to Fox 4 about the scam with the hope of letting other potential tenants and realty companies know these types of scams happen.
He makes it a habit to check websites multiple times a day for his listings fraudulently posted, which happened about 20-30 times in a year, he said.
Instead of giving potential tenants the lock box code, his agents now go to every showing and get a person's license prior.
To prevent being a victim, Bartomeo says don't use websites like Craiglist. Plus, don't send money through an app.
"I would recommend using an agent or a property management company or come to a physical location," he said.
If there's a rental company sign in the front yard, he says call that number.
Lopez says she should have gone through a realtor, but with the lesson comes gratitude for the company, who allowed them to stay in their first home together.
"I don't want people to let things like this to take over their lives," she said. "Karma will always get you."
Fox 4 reached out to the woman sent the money, but they have not replied. The number used by the fake landlord is now disconnected.
If you would like to help the couple recover, click here.
