Don’t Fall For the Same Rent Scam as This McKinney, Texas Family
Scammers are the absolute worst. They have a plethora of ways to steal your money or your personal information. They will disguise it as a fancy giveaway or some sob story to pull at your heart strings to get your money or, in this case, are able to disguise themselves as a rental company to get you into a house. This happened to a McKinney, Texas family of five who lost a lot of money are now looking for a new place to live.
Crazy Housing Market
The housing market has been absolutely nuts for a while. Even though it seems to be calming down a bit that doesn't mean that people are not looking for a new place to live. One McKinney family was looking for a place and were very excited when they found what they thought would be the perfect home for their family of five.
The Davila family found a four bedroom, two and half bath home in McKinney through Zillow (WFAA). No big deal. The family expressed their interest in the home and soon got a call from a Floyd Baker who said he was the owner of the home. He said that he wasn't in town to personally give the family a tour of the house but did have the lockbox code for the family to use to move in.
Scam Carried Out
The family sent in their first and last month's rent through the cash app Zelle, signed a lease agreement and moved in. Problem was, the home didn't belong to this Floyd Baker, it belonged to FirstKey Homes. A few days after moving in, an agent with FirstKey Homes came to the house to give a tour. The Davila family had no idea what was going on.
Brenna Davila has filed a report with McKinney Police and it doesn't appear that any charges will be filed against the Davila family for trespassing or any wrong doing.
Don't Fall for This Scam
This incident could have easily happened in East Texas. Always go through a licensed realtor or a trusted landlord and never pay through a cash app like a Zelle or a Venmo. The Davila family lost about $8,000 through this scam and do not have a home now, either.