Scammed by identity of new tenant

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Scammed by identity of new tenant

Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes

This is a new one to us. We just rented a new to us house. The person filled out the application and I ran a full background check on them. Credit and employment history came back positive. I called the listed previous landlord, etc. So right after they moved in there were some mechanical issues with the unit (Air conditioner and the water heater quit heating) I was there working on the property and the tenant's group drove off to visit someone and shortly thereafter the police showed up. They asked for "Jane Doe" and I said, she doesn't live here, that's her daughter. The officer said this was the second time they've been at the property and the person by that name said she had just moved in. Anyway, we started putting a few clues together and best I can tell, the daughter used her mother's credentials to qualify for the property. I'm not really sure how to proceed from here. She's fully moved in. I'm thinking we have a few different options. 1. Tell her to get a truck and immediately vacate the house. 2. Have HER fill out an application, run it and then make a decision. 3. Have whoever we thought she was co-sign for the property and let her stay. (that would be after she completed an application). I'm really upset about this situation and the fact that we've been scammed by this person. We looked back to see what we could have done differently and there are a few minor things but we basically followed our usually vetting process. We believe the mother was cooperating in the fraud.

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Specialist · OverTheRainbow · Member since 2020 · 607 posts · 909 votes

Originally posted by @John Teachout:

This is a new one to us. We just rented a new to us house. The person filled out the application and I ran a full background check on them. Credit and employment history came back positive. I called the listed previous landlord, etc. So right after they moved in there were some mechanical issues with the unit (Air conditioner and the water heater quit heating) I was there working on the property and the tenant's group drove off to visit someone and shortly thereafter the police showed up. They asked for "Jane Doe" and I said, she doesn't live here, that's her daughter. The officer said this was the second time they've been at the property and the person by that name said she had just moved in. Anyway, we started putting a few clues together and best I can tell, the daughter used her mother's credentials to qualify for the property. I'm not really sure how to proceed from here. She's fully moved in. I'm thinking we have a few different options. 1. Tell her to get a truck and immediately vacate the house. 2. Have HER fill out an application, run it and then make a decision. 3. Have whoever we thought she was co-sign for the property and let her stay. (that would be after she completed an application). I'm really upset about this situation and the fact that we've been scammed by this person. We looked back to see what we could have done differently and there are a few minor things but we basically followed our usually vetting process. We believe the mother was cooperating in the fraud.

Identity theft is a felony. If she'd commit a felony, what's the question? She will do ANYTHING and you are headed for big trouble.

AND the police were looking for her . . . ?

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Jason Allen
Member since 2019 · 104 posts · 72 votes
3y
I'm curious to know what happened. I'm dealing with a nearly essentially the same situation. So I've got a brand new tenant or a couple actually , They checked out fine. However Just last week we got anonymous tip that the female half of the couple Wasn't actually who she said she was And that she had used her Mothers ID And had her mother's information on the contract and the background check. To avoid her multiple evictions showing up. She also signed the contract using her mother's name. They're coming up on 2 weeks late on the rent I'm probably gonna have to evict them. Anyhow the way I was able to basically confirm that They're doing identity theft. So a scammer listed The the house as available and some poor lady Saw the listing Went to the house talk to the couple. And the couple gave this lady my number so she called me and asked me about the the rental. It was obviously listed way low so which is why she went over there so quickly to check it out. Anyhow the lady When I called her back and ask her about the whole thing she said that the lady at the door was Samantha Which was the female fraudsters actual name, which matched all the evictions and was the same as the anonymous tip. The name that she had run through the background check and had signed on the contract Was ruth Which is her mom's name. Anyways because she use her real name when talking to this poor lady who was being scammed by someone who posted a fake listing of the apartment I was able to confirm that in fact She was Samantha and not ruth and his committing fraud and identity theft. I suppose I will notify the police but I don't expect tHem to do anything about it. Apparently fraud is okay as long as you're defrauding landlords.
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Theresa HarrisPro Member
Member since 2019 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
3y
Quote from @John Teachout:

At this point we're not sure she is who she is. And no, I can't tell how old she is based on meeting her in person. The driver's license she produced also appeared to be real. The Georgia license would be pretty hard to duplicate and I believe it's legit. She claims the person the police were seeking was her sister. (she previously said it was her daughter). She pulled a wad of papers out that had her name on it and so forth. So at this point, we're going to let things ride and see if she pays rent. We did drive to the previous address in another town and knocked on the door. No one answered. I tried calling her employer to see if she's taken time off (because she's been around in the daytime when she supposedly works)

If we knew she wasn't who she said she is, we'd put her out but at this point unless we really got invasive we don't really have a way to prove it one way or the other.

The utility companies accepted her ID to turn on the water and electric. You have to do that in person in this municipality. We'll update the post if anything develops.
It has been 3 years. I'm curious as to how this turned out.
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John Teachout
OP
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
3y
Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @John Teachout:

At this point we're not sure she is who she is. And no, I can't tell how old she is based on meeting her in person. The driver's license she produced also appeared to be real. The Georgia license would be pretty hard to duplicate and I believe it's legit. She claims the person the police were seeking was her sister. (she previously said it was her daughter). She pulled a wad of papers out that had her name on it and so forth. So at this point, we're going to let things ride and see if she pays rent. We did drive to the previous address in another town and knocked on the door. No one answered. I tried calling her employer to see if she's taken time off (because she's been around in the daytime when she supposedly works)

If we knew she wasn't who she said she is, we'd put her out but at this point unless we really got invasive we don't really have a way to prove it one way or the other.

The utility companies accepted her ID to turn on the water and electric. You have to do that in person in this municipality. We'll update the post if anything develops.
It has been 3 years. I'm curious as to how this turned out.
It ended with an eviction. The place was trashed and we had to do a set out (hire people to haul everything out of the house under the supervision of a constable) Then it got ugly with her family members claiming things were theirs and not hers so the sheriff was on scene next. Once we got the house empty the constable told us to leave and not come back for three days. At that point she said we could deal with anything that was left. There was a LOT left. And it was spread all over as they apparently were sorting through to pick out what they wanted. We used a dump trailer and hauled it away to the landfill. We were able to confirm that the identity was indeed false. We send the damage claim which apparently wound up in the hands of the person that provided the identity. We never got any money and it was a huge mess (they broke in the house thinking stuff was still in there). At any rate, we got it cleaned up, refurbished (again) and it's been rented out since and cash flowing nicely. In retrospect, we would have pushed the issue sooner. We're very paranoid about scams now and all new tenants go under close scrutiny. Looking back on it, we discussed what we would have done different during the vetting process and the answer was nothing.
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John Teachout
OP
Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
3y
I'll add that during the set out process, we talked to a passerby and she knew both the tenant and the person who had provided the identity, it wasn't a relative but was a friend of the tenant. The tenant had also not signed up for trash service and piled up bags of it against the side of the house (inside and out) and there was a major roach infestation when we got the house back. The set out cost about $600 to hire the helpers and the rehab was mostly labor plus some expenses to replace broken windows, etc. We've moved beyond this and subsequent to it have had an even worse experience with a hoarder/crazy cat lady and that property has been vacant for 20 months getting put back in shape. We should be finished in October and then plan to sell it. She was a long term tenant and always paid the rent until she got sick and died and left us with the mess.
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