Woman says she was bombarded by people wanting to rent her new home in bizarre scam
A Florida woman says at one point her yard was filled with people wanting to rent her new home.
She had just bought it. Fearing this was all a big scam, she called law enforcement.
Watch the full report in the video player above.
"At first, I was like, huh?” said Shawn Mincy.
First-time homeowner Mincy said 20 families had been coming by to rent her new Ocala home that she had purchased not even a month ago.
"One guy sent over $2,000 to him for the move-in fees since he didn't want to lose the deal," Mincy said.
It got so bad, that she put a sign on her door saying her house is not for rent.
"Oh no, it is not for rent," Mincy said.
One woman, Joya Galbreath, got a tenant approval letter for the home early Wednesday morning not even 12 hours after applying for the same property.
“I was flabbergasted,” Galbreath said.
The letter stated: "The home is currently occupied. They will be officially out on 8/25/22, and the home will be officially move-in ready 9/1/22."
Galbreath says the man, an alleged landlord, wanted a $1,300 deposit.
Sister station WESH asked how much she sent him.
“None. The only thing I sent, was when I did the application I sent $55,” Galbreath said.
She got leery while at the bank and called him.
"I said I don't want this to be a scam. All he said was this is not a scam and went on to say you need to send the money,” she said.
Galbreath said he also texted her saying, “Trust me, you're not losing your money. How can I run away with your money when I have a family here in Florida?"
WESH went to the Orlando address listed on the alleged lease approval letter and a driver’s license sent to one of the potential renters, but it's private property and there is no trespassing.
Mincy contacted the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
Both women say do your homework. Galbreath went online to find out about scams.
"It said if they ask you to wire money, which is what exactly he was doing and they don't want to meet up with you and he did not want to meet up with me,” Galbreath added.
“If it looks like it's too good to be true, then most likely it's too good to be true,” Mincy said.
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
