Would-Be Tenant Gets Taken For $1,200 Deposit As Rent Scams Targeting Unwitting Victims Continue

In Portsmouth, Virginia, WVEC-TV Channel 13 reports:

• [Paula] Jones was ripped off in a rental house scheme. She responded to a "for rent" sign at a home at 1500 Effingham Street in Portsmouth. When she met the landlord, who identified herself as Sharon Wilson, she wasn't allowed to go inside because Wilson told her the house was being renovated.



• Jones paid a $1,200 deposit anyway, on what appeared to be just the house she was looking to rent. When she got the keys weeks later, the house was completely trashed with no signs of any rehab work being done. Profanity covered the walls, holes were in the ceilings, junk and dirt were everywhere.



• Later, Jones discovered the lease was fake and the inspection report on the home had been fabricated. As it turns out, the house was condemned by the city of Portsmouth last Spring, after it was listed with numerous code violations.

For more, see 13News viewer helps rental scheme victim.