BEWARE OF ROOM RENTAL SCAMS IN CLEVELAND HEIGHTS (Cleveland Heights)
Beware of room rental scams in Cleveland Heights / Coventry / Little Italy / University Circle!
When looking at rooms, I recommend considering only empty rooms, and checking out the lessor extensively. If his name is, for instance, John Doe, definitely Google "John Doe arrested". Use arrests.org and any other resources you can find.
I was a victim of a scam ("in my opinion") where someone showed me a room that wasn't empty, claiming that his roommate would be out within days. As my move in date approached, things got extremely suspicious.
The "roommate" kept delaying his move out. The room wasn't available on my planned move in date and it ultimately never became available. The lessor gave me one excuse after another - I'm leaving out a lot of details in the interest of brevity. I eventually had to look for a different place because the situation made me very late moving out of my previous place and I couldn't risk having things drag on indefinitely. Everyone I spoke to advised me to demand my money back immediately.
I demanded my money back and the lessor gave me a check which of course bounced. I should have demanded cash but I knew he would just disappear and I wanted a bounced check for evidence. The lessor claims this isn't an illegal bad check because he decided to put a stop on it because I terminated the contract. I wasn't advised that he supposedly changed his mind about the situation and "stopped the check" until I confronted him.
He seems to be using his real name and bank account. I think he just realizes how much of a hassle it is to sue in housing court.
I did check this person out extensively in the beginning but unfortunately I didn't find a certain mugshot until later, close to the move in date. "Someone with his name and who looks like him" was arrested in another state for forgery and accepting money under false pretenses.
I also found a newer CL ad that was very similar to the one I responded to for the room. It was posted after I gave the lessor money.
100 visits