Better Business Bureau warns about Jacksonville rental scheme

This year more than 4,000 units have been up for rent and now the Better Business Bureau is warning people that ads for some online listings are being hijacked.

The BBB warns that this type of renter’s scheme happens the most during the summer.

A home in Mayport was listed for rent on Zillow for $800 a month.

“It’s worth more than $800 and I just recently renovated it and it’s real nice inside,” property owner Jean Law said.

But Law said it is actually her property and she rents it for $1,250 a month.

“It just recently became up for rent again about two weeks ago,” Law said.

But a potential renter said they found it listed by someone else on the online real estate site Zillow for much less.

“I did not know that, I’m shocked,” Law said.

When the potential renter called the realtor listed on Zillow, he said he was told this was a rental scheme.

Action News Jax reporter Danielle Avitable tried calling the number of the man who claimed to be renting the property and he said he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“If you have any problems with me, call the cops,” the man said.

Action News Jax found on social media that several people almost fell for the same scheme with the home.

A Zillow representative said a customer support team monitors activity on the site and if a listing is found to be fraudulent, it is immediately removed.

Shannon Nelson with the BBB said this type of scheme happens the most during the summer.

“College kids are moving, families are moving because their kids are out of school and people are renting vacation homes,” Nelson said.

The BBB has already been made aware of similar issues in our area dozens of times just this year.

Nelson said people do it by hijacking ads of homes that are on the market for rent or for sale.

“They advertise them for a really low, too good to be true price and try to get them to send funds that are not due to them,” Nelson said.

A neighbor said she has heard of this kind of scheme in the past and it’s not surprising.

“Not in today’s day, sadly people get scammed all the time. It just sucks it’s so close to home,” a neighbor said.

Nelson said there are red flags to look out for like making sure you aren’t wiring money and not paying for a background check.

Nelson said you can also go to the tax collector’s website to see who actually owns the home.

Cox Media Group