Minnesota family moving back following Las Vegas rental scam
Click here for updates on this story
LAS VEGAS (KVVU) — A family from Minnesota say they are moving back to the Midwest after becoming victim to a rental scam in Las Vegas.
Steven Michaels and his wife, along with their three children, moved to Las Vegas in March 2020 after she got a new job. They rented a home this past year, but in mid-January had to find a new house rental. Michaels said his search became desperate.
“Once February started to get down to the last couple of weeks, I wasn’t sleeping at night, I was up at 3 a.m., I was online, Craigslist, Zillow, everything. Trying to contact whoever whomever I could,” Michaels said.
He found a house he was interested in and said within half an hour he got a response.
“He reached out to me and he sounded legit on the phone. And we actually spoke you know not through text message through phone,” Michaels said.
His parents were visiting from Minnesota at the time they checked out the house for rent.
“I called him when I got to the home. He said, ‘Do you see the lockbox on the house?’ And I said sure do, so he said, ‘I just sent you over text message an app,’ and it was a legit app,” he said.
He said he entered the number in the app, opening the lockbox.
“To any person who doesn’t rent on a regular bases it seemed legit,” Michaels said.
Michaels said his family liked the house, so he wanted to move forward. The man said he wanted $1,400 right away.
The man told him to go to a Bitcoin machine at a Circle K, but Michaels didn’t feel comfortable with that, so he told the man they will use a cash transfer app when he got home.
In the meantime, Michaels contacted his realtor about the house. His realtor told him the home is owned by a person that listed it under First Key Homes.
“Right then, I should’ve dropped the ball, walked away and I didn’t, like I said being desperate,” Michaels said.
When he was home, he signed a lease and transferred $1,400 over the man’s Zelle account. Zelle does not refund money from fraudulent claims.
When his family were moving items into the house and Michaels was at the bank about to make another $1,400 deposit, he got a call he wasn’t expecting. His dad tells him they got scammed.
“I hate to say it but I probably used every vulgar word in the English language to this man. You know he wanted trust and I was hoping to trust him and so yeah, that’s where we’re at now,” Michaels said.
Michaels and his family are now heading back to Minnesota.
“Our goal is to head back home to Minnesota, to family and friends and support. And Vegas was fun, but not for us,” Michaels said.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
