The four-bedroom home on the 400 block of Carter Street in Vallejo was just what the family needed. And the $2,000 move-in fee with no deposit or credit check? Seemed unbelievable.
It was.
Two days after unpacking, the dream home became a nightmare. Apparently, the “landlord” renting the property wasn’t the landlord, bilking the family out of $2,000 in what’s believed to be the first Bitcoin-involved real estate crime in Vallejo.
“Scammers are getting smarter,” said Krystle Karimian, the property management company’s broker CEO.
The suspect posted the rental property on various sites. And the victims, says Karimian, found it on Facebook Marketplace.
The suspect basically said he has a place for rent “and here’s the code to get in. Just go ahead and pay me through Bitcoin,” said Karimian, tracing the suspected 35-year-old scammer to a Los Angeles address.
“We track renters and prospective renters and he acted like he was going in and viewing property,” Karimian said. “Instead of viewing it, he gave the ‘keys’ to a family and pretended he was the landlord.”
Karimian speculated that the suspect got the lockbox code “either from taking a tour of the home and stole it from a tenant or was given it, pretending to be a possible renter.”
Evidence indicates the suspect is believed to have shown the property four times, though it could have been virtually, Karimian said.
Something was obviously awry when the legitimate applicant drove to the property and noticed a family already moving in, said Krystle Properties leasing agent Renee McCrary, already aware that the property had been the object of a Facebook scam.
McCrary and a colleague knocked on the door and were greeted by a young man “who was confused when we informed him that they were the victims of a scam and that we needed to talk to his parents.”
“I think they were surprised and sad,” Karimian said. “The kids were so excited. They loved the house.”
A few days earlier, the family paid the $2,000 “move-in fee” via the requested Bitcoin at a local liquor store.
Asking for cryptocurrency “was an interesting method of payment,” said Karimian.
Not surprising, however, to Vallejo Bitcoin investor Beau Belisle, believing that Bitcoin ATMs like the one at Marathon gas station on Sonoma Boulevard will become prevalent.
It’s exchanging currency, said Belisle, liking it to exchanging Euros for dollars, except “you’re taking your ‘real dollars’ and changing them to ‘Bitcoin dollars’ on your cell phone’s ‘digital wallet.”
A Bitcoin payment would go to the scammer’s Bitcoin address, but, unlike Venmo, no bank account is involved.
“It leaves a digital paper trail but is not traceable to a person,” said Belisle.
“Needless to say, this family was devastated to find out that not only were they out of the $2,000, but now they had to move again,” McCrary said.
The duped family includes a 26-year-old wheelchair-bound son requiring a home with no stairs, “thus making the move even more difficult and devastating for this family to have to pack up after only 48 hours and look for another home,” said McCrary, who started a GoFundMe campaign with a $5,000 goal for the bewildered family.
A police report was filed, but Karimian doubts the suspect will be found. He has been blacklisted locally, she said, though adding “I’m sure he’ll go find another way” to scam others.
Vallejo Interim Deputy Chief Joe Kreins said that “although the chances of locating and identifying a suspect is slim, we will still make an effort to do so, and we will check other law enforcement jurisdictions with similar reported incidents.”
Kreins empathized with the victims.
“That is very sad indeed,” he said the fraud. “Unfortunately, these scam predators seem to find newer and more innovative ways to prey on unsuspecting people. I feel very bad for this family.”
McCrary concurred.
“These people are innocent victims who simply needed a place to live, and now they have to immediately move out of the ‘home’ they thought they were blessed to find,” McCrary said.
Karimian said local property managers typically alert each other of scams or potential scams.
“Scams are usually pretty obvious,” Karimian said. “But this guy out-smarted the family.”
Karimian said the $2,000 “move-in” fee is less than the monthly rent for the four bedroom home, adding that if there’s no credit or background check or required last month’s rent as a deposit, it’s probably a scam.
The suspect also never asked for credit information. Also, the victims had a dog and it’s unlikely dogs were permitted in the legitimate agreement, Karimian said.
Also, noted Karimian, it’s unlikely any landlord would rent property without meeting potential renters face-to-face.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.
Karimian hopes the GoFundMe effort helps the victims quickly find somewhere to live.
“We’re trying to get them into another home,” Karimian said.
For the GoFundMe page, visit: gf.me/u/zkahxw
