馃攳
Victim Of Detroit's 'Fake Landlord' Scam Gets Chance To Buy Her Home - YouTube
Channel: NBC News
[0]
a while back we told you about a woman
[1]
named june walker she signed a rent to
[4]
own lease on a three-bedroom bungalow
[6]
back in 2019 and spent two years fixing
[9]
it up paying 550 bucks a month to a man
[12]
who claimed to work for her landlord
[14]
after paying her last bill she found out
[16]
the whole thing was a scam of course
[18]
this put june in a lot of distress
[20]
until she heard from former detroit
[22]
resident jerry gumbert nbc's zinckley
[25]
essema has a story
[28]
there's an alleged fake landlord scam
[30]
plaguing detroit and it almost cost june
[33]
walker her home when did things start
[35]
going wrong
[37]
two months after i made the final
[39]
payment residents like walker allege
[42]
they've been scammed by individuals
[44]
renting or selling properties they
[46]
actually do not own in november 2021 we
[50]
reported on these fake landlord scams
[52]
with aaron einhorn in collaboration with
[54]
outlier media they involve scammers
[57]
collecting rent on foreclosed homes
[59]
renting vacant houses or scammers filing
[62]
false deeds and making fake sales in the
[64]
case of june walker she entered a rent
[67]
to own lease agreement in 2019 with an
[70]
option to buy a major milestone for the
[72]
66 year old who previously experienced
[75]
homelessness and drug addiction i was
[77]
running around the house all happy
[78]
calling everybody but joy turned to
[81]
shock when walker asked for her deed the
[83]
seller stopped responding he was not the
[86]
owner and walker faced eviction she sat
[89]
through virtual hearings in legal limbo
[91]
for months until there she is there he
[95]
is can i have a hug jerry gumbert a
[97]
detroit native now texas resident red
[100]
walker's story
[102]
thank you and i came across an nbc news
[105]
story
[106]
and when i finally finished the article
[111]
my
[112]
my eyes were wet tears were coming down
[114]
my face the next day gumbert says he
[117]
reached out to lawyers who passed his
[119]
info to michigan legal services i told
[122]
her i said
[123]
i'll buy the house for her and he did
[126]
meeting june walker for the first time
[128]
in july the day of her deed signing you
[131]
look like a homeowner
[134]
yeah i got the paperwork in there to
[136]
prove that persons like her who get
[138]
scammed you know end up end up losing
[140]
everything ted phillips with detroit's
[142]
united community housing coalition says
[145]
while walker is a success story she's
[147]
not the norm i mean the seller made
[149]
money on this and made some pretty good
[151]
money on this walker says the initial
[153]
sale price of her home was about eleven
[156]
thousand five hundred dollars walker
[158]
paid the scammer fifteen thousand
[160]
dollars and to buy out the property
[162]
gumbert paid forty five thousand dollars
[165]
plus additional legal costs to picafe
[168]
llc for a house still in need of
[171]
renovation as for the scammers the
[173]
detroit police department says in part
[175]
scammers are often not held accountable
[177]
because they quote use fake identities
[180]
do not provide written leases and use a
[182]
middleman to commit a crime
[184]
did they ever find the guy who did this
[185]
to you i went there and picked them out
[187]
of the lineup and they wrote it up and
[190]
they sent it to the prosecutor the
[191]
prosecutor's office says they quote
[193]
diligently work on ms walker's case the
[196]
detroit police department confirms they
[198]
submitted a warrant to the prosecutor's
[200]
office and it has been signed they are
[203]
quote actively seeking the suspect to
[206]
arrest him even amid the waiting june
[208]
walker hopes her story will inspire
[210]
other affected property owners and that
[213]
her home will benefit her family for
[215]
generations you've been scammed or you
[218]
think you've been scammed say something
[221]
it's easy
[222]
the urge to live
[224]
i'm afraid when you know what's going to
[227]
happen and for even more context these
[230]
fake landlord scams impact one in 10
[233]
detroit residents according to real
[235]
estate lawyers and housing advocates now
[237]
there are groups like the united housing
[239]
coalition working to defend residents
[242]
but it's an issue to watch
[246]
thanks for watching our youtube channel
[248]
follow today's top stories and breaking
[250]
news by downloading the nbc news app
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage