JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A young couple thought they had found their dream home in Jacksonville: a beautiful kitchen for her & a large garage for him to work on cars.
They were settled in a home in Tallahassee, but a move could mean new opportunities, so they packed up and made the 2.5-hour trip with all their belongings.
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“That was an exciting move at first, and then it turned into a life nightmare,” Asia Thomas told the News4JAX I-TEAM.
That’s because the Facebook Marketplace listing for the rental home in Jacksonville had been a scam. A lesson Thomas and her boyfriend, Austin Plouse, learned the hard way.
“We thought we were acting in good faith, and it turned out it was some unlawful stuff going on,” Thomas said.
A few days into the move, they realized something felt off. They said they contacted the authorities as quickly as they could.
A week after they moved in, the police showed up along with a representative of the legitimate property manager, Invitation Homes.
Plouse, 28, said he was grateful the property manager gave them 24 hours to remove their stuff because they could have been kicked out on the spot.
The city of Jacksonville provided some emergency financial assistance that covered a storage unit and the cost of a U-Haul, and a friend Plouse barely knows from his new job stepped in to help them get everything out of the house.
They’ve been hopping from one hotel to another ever since.
They’re still looking for a place to rent, but the financial setback has made the next steps difficult.
“We found some things, but we’re still recovering from the big loss,” Plouse said. “I’ve had a lot of things that I’ve had to put on the back burner that has just been crushing me financially. And it’s been really, really hard.”
Plouse said when the alleged landlord asked him to pay the deposit and first month’s rent via Zelle, he didn’t think much of it because he’s paid private landlords that way before.
But then the “landlord’s” Zelle “wasn’t working,” and Plouse paid him $1,050 through Apple gift cards.
“Then I kind of was like, OK, this is really suspicious, but I had already sent him $500 through Zelle,” Plouse said.
Plouse said the “landlord” wouldn’t send them the contract until they had paid a deposit and the first month’s rent.
Thomas was skeptical, considering where they had found the listing online, so she demanded the “landlord” send them a photo of his ID. And he did.
But it later turned out it was fake.
“These people are good. They’re very good at what they do,” Plouse said.
The couple said they were given a key code that let them view the house, but when it was time to move in, the “landlord” had Plouse get the key from the lockbox “probably not very legally” -- using a screwdriver.
The “landlord” told Plouse to send him a photo of the key to confirm he’d gotten it out of the box.
“So I did that, and he said congratulations, and he was wishing us Merry Christmas,” Plouse said.
He said even after the scam was revealed and they were kicked out of the home, the “landlord” was trying to contact him. He said the police have told him not to respond.
Thomas said returning to the home for their interview with the I-TEAM was an emotional experience.
“I put all my faith into making this transition for better opportunities just for it all to be snatched away,” Thomas said. “It’s just like starting from fresh up, nothing. So that’s devastating.”
The couple shared two pieces of advice for others looking for rental properties: do your research and meet them in person.
“Make sure everything is legitimate,” Thomas said, “because you can think you have a great deal and you don’t have nothing at all but a nightmare ahead of you.”
The couple has a GoFundMe for anyone who would like to donate to help them recover from the scam and get back on their feet.
News4JAX reached out to Invitation Homes about the incident, and they shared the following:
“We are always frustrated to discover that one of our homes has been used for these types of scams, which can have a devastating impact on the victims. Our goal, as always, is to offer quality homes and ensure our residents have great experiences. We take multiple precautions to prevent criminals from using our homes for scams, including working with a third party that analyzes independent listing sites for fraudulent listings of Invitation Homes properties and facilitates the removal of any such listings.
To protect prospective residents, we provide advice on fraud prevention, which includes being cautious of requests for cash or wire payments accompanied by emotional pleas, abnormally high security deposits, and the absence of required background checks. We encourage anyone interested in renting one of our homes to contact us directly via our website at www.invitationhomes.com. We also advertise on trusted home listing sites such as Zillow, Trulia, Redfin, and others (we do not advertise on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace)."