HENRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Tennessee woman is behind bars after being accused of a rental scam involving an actual home on the market for sale.
Paris resident Melissa Bennett is accused of trying to make money off of a two-bedroom home at 825 Highway 69 North, which is currently listed for sale by Cannon Reality group.
For Heather Levesque, it seemed like a beacon of hope. She came across the property, advertised on Facebook Marketplace as a rental, at a price that would save her $400 a month.
“Usually, when I’ve dealt with people trying to scam me, they would try to get me to email them and stuff. This seemed a little bit different because it had a phone number on it and there were pictures of the inside of the house. It seemed more real to me,” Levesque said.
At first, everything seemed to be going well.
“They sent me a link to my email to fill out the application and I clicked on the link. They had a spot where you upload your ID and everything,” she explained.
The site also had a spot to pay a $60 application fee, which she did. However, Levesque grew suspicious when she was asked for the first month’s rent without being able to see the property.
“It made me sick to my stomach that I had already sent someone money for no reason,” she said.
It’s a scam that East Tennessee realtor Hayden Smith is all too familiar with. Last April, he got a call from a very angry tenant trying to move into one of his listings.
“She called me and was like, ‘Hey, can you come get your sign out of my yard?’” Smith said. “I was like ‘With all due respect, I don’t know who you are.’”
Smith is relieved to hear about an actual arrest involving a rental scam. The victim in this case wasn’t as lucky and is still out roughly $1,500.
“You should face the consequences of your actions and I’m glad to hear that that lady was finally brought to justice and hopefully for the people that she scammed, hopefully those people can get their money back or at least spread awareness,” Smith said. “The lady that got scammed here actually filled out the whole thing, gave her social security number and everything to this person and we still have no clue who that person is, we just know that they’re overseas.”
Smith said rental scams are on the rise in Tennessee due to so many people moving here and the rise in demand for short term rentals for those visiting. His brokerage has seen scammers go as far as picking the locks on listings. If someone would move in, he explained, it could take an eviction process to get them to leave.
Smith urged other realtors to frequently check on their listings frequently. For anyone looking to rent, he recommended not giving out too much personal information online before seeing the property in-person.
He explained that even if a landlord lives in another city, they should have someone in town able to show you the property in person. One main red flag of a scam is that the advertised price seems too good to be true.
Bennett is charged with impersonating a licensed professional, theft of property under $1000, criminal impersonation and criminal trespassing. The Henry County Sheriff’s Office asks any victims of this scam to reach out to them at 731-642-1672.
The Better Business Bureau also offers tools and advice on how to avoid potential rental scams:
- Be wary of lower-than-usual prices. If the rent for an apartment is well below the going market rate, consider it a red flag. Scammers love to draw people in with claims that sound too good to be true.
- Do some research. Search the listing online, as well as the associated phone number and email address. If you find another listing for the same property in a different city, you’ve spotted a scam. Reverse image searches can be helpful, too, as can searching the alleged landlord’s name along with the word “scam.” These searches only take a few minutes and are well worth the effort. Also, search BBB Scam Tracker for any recent reports.
- Always see the property in person. Many rental scams involve listings for properties that don’t exist. Something is fishy if the renter refuses to let you know where the apartment is before you complete a credit check or pay them a deposit. Be wary, too, if you are given the address of a home with a for sale sign in the yard. You might not be in contact with the actual owners.
- Verify the property owner’s information. Contact a licensed real estate agent to see who owns a property, or check the county property appraiser’s website. Ask the landlord for a copy of their ID to verify they are who they claim to be before you offer up sensitive personal information like your social security number for a credit check. If the landlord refuses or gets upset, you could be dealing with a scammer. Check BBB.org for trusted property owners.
- Be cautious about credit check websites. If you need a credit check, always use reputable sources, such as those recommended by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (U.S.) or the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada. Also, check to see if the website is secure. Learn how to identify a fake website.