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Woman caught running rental scam
Catherine Hawley reports.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Fraudsters are taking advantage of the high prices and low inventory in the housing market, preying on people desperate for a place to live.
A Clearwater woman is behind bars for scamming a Bay Area family with a rental rip-off.
After six weeks of searching, Karey Whitfield thought she finally found the perfect house for her family.
"There was a pool out back and I was like, oh yeah, I'll take this one," she said.
She connected with Ewelina Drozd after seeing an ad on Facebook. They first looked at a property on Magnolia Drive in Clearwater.
"I texted her and said, ‘I’m here.’ She let me in, we toured the house," said Whitfield.
After the walk-through, Drozd mentioned she had another rental for the same price but bigger on Belcher Road. Whitfield knew right away it was the one and asked for the lease.
"I’m a notary, so I look at documents all the time for people. Looked it over, looked perfect to me. We filled out the little spots that we needed to fill out, and I signed the lease," Whitfield stated.
She gave Drozd $1,800 in cash for the first month’s rent and security deposit and left with keys in hand.
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Whitfield came back a few hours later with her husband and daughter to welcome them home.
She said, "There's a big giant truck in the driveway and a guy standing there, and I'm like, hey, can I help you? And he was like, I'm the contractor. And I'm like the contractor?"
Whitfield didn’t see any red flags, but she had been scammed. She wants other people to be vigilant so they do not become a victim too.
Clearwater police recommend staying away from social media for the house hunt and looking up potential properties on your own to verify they are actually for rent.
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"Just go with a reputable realtor or a real estate agency, somebody you know, somebody that you can research and know that they're legitimate," explained Clearwater Police Spokesperson Rob Shaw.
Drozd is charged with burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. Whitfield snapped a picture of her ID along with all of the documents the day she signed the lease, which helped detectives bust the 44-year-old woman.
So far, police have been able to return most of Whitfield’s money.
Anyone who may be a victim of this rental scam is urged to call the police.