A local woman almost fell victim to a rental ripoff and now she's warning others about the signs to watch out for.
The house in question is in the Greenleaf Village neighborhood. Action News Jax is not giving more details on the home’s address because a family still lives there, and we want to respect their privacy.
The woman who filed the police report with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office didn’t want to go on camera, but she said she almost paid $2,600 to rent a home that she later learned was for sale and had an offer pending.
She told deputies she found the listing on Hotpads.com and on Zillow.
But when she tried to set up a date to view the property, she said the contact person she had been communicating with wouldn’t confirm a date for a tour.
The family who still lives in the home confirmed the house is up for sale and they’ve already accepted an offer, but are weeks away from closing.
Hotpads.com has removed the listing but it still comes up in a search on Apartments.com.
Action News Jax looked on Hotpads.com and it does have a section letting people know they can report a listing if they feel it’s potentially fraudulent.
A spokesperson for Zillow and Hotpads sent Action News Jax this statement:
"We go to great lengths to police activity and fully inform our users of the existence of scams and how to protect themselves. Our customer support team monitors activity on the site in a number of different ways and if a rental listing is found to be fraudulent, it is removed from our site. We also publish a "<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.zillow.com_info_beware-2Dof-2Dscams-2Dand-2Dother-2Dinternet-2Dfraud_&d=DwMGaQ&c=QvQrCjPtO9cKGOfGYlNgXQ&r=_Cup9Yo93lRN53gtM4GUFETWZNBcvnV7ODlTJYojtvk&m=X0FyB37qZY73T6Vjimk2nxxfPWtWnATmO2drxAOnjlk&s=blAuLPpwgizFtGqyfVLnLEyVFSJazhu83ScXBKfXnb0&e=" target="_blank">Beware of Scams and Other Internet Fraud</a>" page on the site, telling users to look out for red flags like requests for wire transfers and long-distance inquiries, and directing them to our fraud and scams page, which provides valuable information about how to avoid fraudulent listings."
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