Glendale woman warning public of rental scam

A Glendale woman has a warning for the public after a scammer tried to rip her off through a real estate scheme while pretending to be the owner of the property.

The plot was meant to swindle Channel Daily out of thousands of dollars, but she immediately became suspicious with the low price the scammer was offering.

In this situation, the scammer used a fake identity and a fake dramatic story about cancer to try to reel the victim in, but there were just too many red flags for it to work.

Daily says she's been on the hunt for an apartment in Glendale and when she saw an ad on Westside Rentals for a 3-bed, 2-bath home for just $1,200 a month, she thought she hit the jackpot.

She filled out her information and reached out to the seller. The next morning, she got an email.

The seller responded saying the house was still available and "we are renting out the house because we relocated to Georgia because of my wife who is suffering from breast cancer." They wrote the rent was $1,200 with a security deposit of $1,000 dollars and that the keys to the home were with them in Georgia.

The scammer signed the email with the name of the legitimate, legal owner of the house.

Daily says she wrote back giving her condolences but wanted to call him over the phone because the price of the home rental seemed a little skeptical. She says the scammer responded with a semi-illiterate and defensive email saying the price is what it is because of his wife's condition, and sent Daily a legitimate-looking rental application.

"It was very rude and very direct and I said, 'you know what? This isn't right,'" Daily said.

Daily decided to visit the home in person and that's when she discovered it was all a scam. The realtor's name was Karina Sarkissian and her client is the real owner of the house. An email to the scammer was left unreturned.

Westside Rentals say they do everything they can to identify and remove fraudulent listings but some slip through the cracks. They have some red flags for you to look for:

1. Rent is offered below market price

2. Can't or won't meet in person

3. Dramatic landlord story

Daily says she is glad she trusted her gut on the low-ball asking price and never forked over her hard-earned cash.