It's a scary world out there for apartment hunters, especially if you're a "young, first-time New Yorker." A duo scammed 20 such souls out of a total of $60,000 by posing as landlords for apartments that they gained access to through short-term rentals. They convinced tenants to sign leases and pay security deposits, but when the tenants showed up to move in, they found the real occupants inside. The victims never saw it comingoh wait, yes they did: "All the signs were definitely there, a whole bunch of red flags. [...] I said, 'This is too good to be true,' which, of course, it was." [NYDN]
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