Innovative Tenant Scam
Hi All,
A manager of mine recently fell ill, leaving me to manage in her stead. I hadn't managed in so long that I expected my management skills had atrophied(though in fairness, I never was skilled in that arena.) Lest the reader be concerned, my manager is back in good health.
But I had to take over the lease-up of a vacancy during her convalescence. I rented to a person I'll call Feh. Feh moved in and was so happy with her new apartment for two days, until...BEDBUGS! She told me the place was full of them- odd, I thought, I'd just paid an exterminator not two months prior to be rid of the little buggers. Feh told me that not only did her unit have them, but the other two residents had them as well. But, lucky me! Her boyfriend was an exterminator. At this point, dear reader, you may be wondering- wasn't my cynical Manhattanite-feeler-radar perking up?
Of course it was. And the feeler-radar perked up more when the extermination fee her boyfriend wished to charge was denominated in rent-months. Specifically, "My boyfriend can exterminate for 1.5 months of rent."
"Let's hold off on that, Feh, I'll get my professional exterminator back in for a look-see."
Not the answer she wanted, granted, but my exterminator had a look. And surprise, he found no evidence of bedbugs(and Feh did not wish to show her son's "bites" to the exterminator.) Doing a little more research, I called the other two residents, both of whom said that they had no problem with bedbugs- the source of that little lie had been Feh herself.
So now what? If I just told Feh she was making up stories, she could refuse to pay rent and make me start eviction proceedings, all the while claiming that her place was infested- it is a bit challenging to prove the absence of the little mites! I needed to extract a confession, and I'll be frank- waterboarding, as tempting as it sounded in this case, was not an option.
I resorted to the use of skill and subterfuge- in essence, I decided to fight fire with fire. A quick search told me that Feh had a bit of a history with drugs and the police. So I decided to craft an email to her, and I've included the email below(with names changed to protect the guilty.)
"Hi Feh,
The exterminator mentioned that he saw no evidence of bedbugs, and I spoke to the tenants upstairs, who have no bedbugs.
I know this must be difficult for you- if your son has marks on his body, it is likely from something else. I'd like to help out in any way I can- there may be something going on at his school, or someone else putting those marks there. I think in the interest of your son's safety, I should call the police and child protective services to have a meeting with you and your son. They may find something that you are not aware of. I'm here to help you through this difficult time- I'll try to get them there today or tomorrow. If someone's hurting your son, we need to address it immediately. Thank you and I'll be in touch after I've set up an appointment for you,
Michael"
Needless to say, this elicited an immediate response(in writing!) She wrote that she had no bedbugs, all was well, don't call the cops, so on and so forth. To tenants wishing to scam me(or my management) now or in the future, I have one hyphenated word for you. Tee-hee.
Peace and Love,
Michael Gansberg