Huntsville couple warns about possible rental scam
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — For Samantha Marshall, finding a new home to rent is a top priority. Her family needs to be out of their current rental home as soon as possible.
So, she was thrilled when she came across a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home in a good south Huntsville neighborhood. With a big kitchen, room for a man cave and a fenced-in backyard for their dogs, it was “the perfect home for us.”
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But the sweet deal may have been a little too sweet.
Marshall says she believes she fell for an “elaborate” rental scam.
Earlier this month Marshall says she came across the listing for the home on Facebook Marketplace.
Marshall said she immediately messaged the person who listed the home, and they asked for a phone number. She said she quickly received a phone call from someone who said they were the private landlord of the home.
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She then set up a tour of the house for a Friday morning. When her and her family arrived to the home for the tour, the “landlord” said they wouldn’t be there in person, but gave them instructions on how to access the electronic lockbox on the door.
Marshall said the person was extremely polite and helpful throughout the process and stayed on the phone throughout the whole tour. After the tour concluded Marshall said they were ready to move forward with the home.
She said they were presented an electronic application, were approved, and were sent a virtual lease agreement. She said everything looked “legit”, and they went forward with sending the deposit for the home.
Marshall said they sent part of the deposit via Cash App, and the other half via a Walmart Money transfer.
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“It didn’t seem anything weird, because our landlord now that we have, we use Cash App to pay her the rent and everything else,” Marshall said.
However, Marshall said she wanted to double-check that everything was legit, so she searched the address of the home online.
A quick search brought up several listings of the home on reputable websites like Zillow, Redfin, and Trulia. All of the listings had the same pictures that Marshall had seen on the Facebook Marketplace listing.
However, the real estate websites all listed a property management company as the contact for the home.
“My heart sunk,” Marshall said. “I knew in my heart that this was a scam.”
She said she called the property management company listed for the home, and they had no record of her touring the home, none of her paperwork, and said that the people who Marshall had been in contact with did not work for them.
News 19 did confirm via a Madison County property tax record search, that the property management company is the real owner of the home.
Marshall said she was devastated to learn that the money she had sent on Cash App to the “landlord” was likely gone forever.
“I’m out $1,125,” she said. “I will never see it again.”
She says she believes that people she was in contact with are part of an elaborate scam network with the intention of getting money in the form of deposits from potential renters.
Unfortunately for Marshall, her family cannot afford the rent for the real listing, so they are still looking for a new home.
She reached out to News 19 to share her story, because she wants to warn other renters about the possible rental scam.
“As much pain as I’m going through, and the struggles, and the suffering that I’m going through, I seriously do not want anybody else to to have to deal with this,” Marshall said. “There might be somebody else that is even more desperate and more in-need of a home and they’re out looking for a place and this could happen to them.”
Marshall told News 19 that she had reported the incident to Huntsville Police.
The Huntsville Police Department confirmed to News 19 that they are looking into what happened, but said this is the first report they’ve received of this kind for the property.
News 19 also reached out to the property management company for a comment, however we have not heard back at this time.
The Better Business Bureau tracks moving and rental scams. You can find their advice for avoiding them by clicking here.
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