South Florida Man Says His Family Lost $4,500 After Signing House Lease With Renter Posing as Owner

"We made a big mistake,” Carlos Leon said

Carlos Leon and his family claim they've been robbed of $4,500 dollars in a rental scheme.

He said that in January he and his wife were looking for a new house to rent, and an ad in the paper led them to a house at 2121 SW 151st Place renting for $1,500 a month.

But when they showed up to move in on Monday, after paying a total of $4,500 to Yamilet Gonzalez, the keys didn't work, Leon said. And minutes later, another three families showed up to also move into the same house in southwest Miami-Dade.

"We made a big mistake,” Leon said.

He said they learned that Gonzalez is not the owner, but a renter. The real homeowner, Josefa Hernandez, said she rents the house to Gonzalez and another person.

“She’s making new (leases) on the customers for my house, for my name,” Hernandez said.

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Leon provided to NBC 6 the lease he signed to rent the house from Gonzalez, who he said claimed to be Hernandez, as well as some of the receipts for the money they gave her.

Now, the alleged victims are telling their stories to the police and looking for Gonzalez. Police say they are investigating the allegations.

After talking with police, Leon and his family are looking for a new rental.

"Don’t do anything without the real ID of the person, and check, make sure, before you do something like this,” he said.

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