NYC Woman Faces Charges Of Allegedly Pocketing $11K+ By Renting Out Apartment She Didn't Own; Used Craigslist To Reel In Seven Victims, Says DA

In Richmond Hill, Queens, the New York Post reports:

• Elizabeth Mosh was so excited when she rented a Queens apartment for $650 a month last September, that she even ordered a bed and a flat-screen TV online so they would be there when she moved in. But the 23-year-old preschool teacher was never able to make the move into the two-bedroom apartment in Richmond Hill because the woman who rented it to her via Craigslist doesn't own it, authorities said [...].

• Mosh and six others were victims of Tonja Fenton, 35, who allegedly rented the same apartment to seven people and pocketed $11,735 in deposit fees, a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney's Office said. The apartment is in the basement of a two-family home where Fenton lives.

• Fenton has been charged with grand larceny and scheming to defraud. Mosh said she gave Fenton $1,300 in cash for the first month's rent and the security deposit after finding the apartment listing on Craigslist. But at 6 a.m. on the day she was supposed to move in, Fenton allegedly called and said she couldn't do so because a pipe had burst and there was a flood in the apartment.

Source: CRAIGSLIST APT. 'SWINDLE.'

Go here, go here, go here, and go here for posts on phony landlord rent scams. KappaPhonyLandlordScam