The News4JAX I-TEAM is uncovering a rental rip-off with a new twist. With so many people trying to find a home to rent and grabbing what they can quickly, you could get scammed out of thousands of dollars — even though you think you’ve done the right research.
Graduate student Veranda Riccardi found that out after she moved into a home in St. Johns County and was living there for almost a week when she learned she hadn’t rented the home at all and wasn’t legally allowed to be there.
“It all just seemed so unreal,” she said.
Riccardi was looking for a place to live in January to start her graduate program at the University of St. Augustine. “We found the listing through Craigslist, and then we saw it was on a bunch of other (sites), Apartment.com, Rent.com so we thought, ‘Okay it’s a legit sale.’” Riccardi says she noticed the rental price and phone numbers were different on each website – which are red flags – but says the man she spoke to claimed to be the owner and had an answer for the different dollar figures. In fact, she says he had an answer for everything she asked.
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“He said one included utility and a cleaning service, and the other was just the house rent which sounded pretty legit,” she said. “How did you get into the house?” News4JAX Consumer Investigator Lauren Verno asked Riccardi.
“It was a lockbox,” she answered. “He said just texted me when you’re there I will give you a code to the lock box which made us feel like it…
