Oxford woman loses $1,400 in possible apartment rental scam

An Oxford resident told police Oct. 9 she found an apartment for rent in Hamilton on Craig’s List and sent a text message about the house to a woman who identified herself as the owner. They reached agreement on the transaction with the Oxford woman sending several payments between Sept. 14 and Sept. 30 totaling $1,400, via Walmart to cover a security deposit and first month’s rent.

She was sent a lease agreement and was told to fill it out before she could have the keys to the house. She said she returned the agreement but was told she could not have the keys due to still owing money on the mortgage.

The Oxford woman said she was then asked if she could send some additional money to help with that to speed up the process. She said she did have the money but needed the keys so she could start moving in. She got no response and then drove by the house and found it occupied. She sent a message about that and was told they were moving out at the end of the month and the keys would be sent later that evening.

When that failed to happen, the victim said she wanted to back out of the deal but received no further response. She contacted someone at Walmart and was given a reference number but the officer who tried to follow up was unsuccessful reaching a representative.

The victim provided copies of the receipts and the suspect was still unknown at the time of the report.

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