Police are searching for a couple of Craigslist scammers who posed as a real estate agent and broker to pry thousands out of renters hands last month.
In the first incident, a 29-year-old man handed over $2,850 after first contacting the pair from the online ad. A man told the victim to meet his daughter at the Bronx basement apartment on Feb. 25.
But when he realized the apartment on Van Nest Avenue in the Morris Park area was not really for rent, he called in vain to get his money back.
The pair scammed two others a few days later using the same scheme.
A 27-year-old woman met with the female suspect after talking to her “dad” on the phone. She handed over $1,900 for the first month’s rent and security deposit at about 12:30 p.m. on Feb. 28, police said.
But the suspect wanted more, which the victim said she couldn’t come up with for awhile. When she finally got the keys and went to the apartment, the locks had been changed. A neighbor then told her that she’d been scammed.
But only an hour and a half after meeting the second victim, the suspect met another 28-year-old woman. After touring the apartment that woman handed over $1,000 in money orders, police said.
