"homeboy hookup" is a scam? i dont know what to believe in anymore

I would run far, far away from this guy if he ever approached me.

Reminds me of the "Homeboy Shopping Network"!

"We got car stereos! We got car alarms!

And if you're lucky enough, we even got the car!"

So they didn't bring police with them to arrest the guy? This seems like a fairly open and shut case of fraud to me.

"One victim tried to file a police report and was told to go to landlord-tenant court, which won't really work, since the guy isn't a real landlord."

My response would be the, well then I guess I have to file a complaint against you for dereliction of duty.

How the hell does he have keys to these places?!?!? These investigators have balls busting these people! What happens if the scammers get combative...

@bloggerX:
It explained in the article...In one case he broke into a house, (possible changed the locks?) and in other instances he conspired with former property managers that still had keys.

PencilSharp's Rules for Rubes
1. TVs do fall off trucks.
2. That guy on the corner is selling legitimate Rolex watches.
3. Homeboy Word is law, and supersedes all other rules, including common sense.

Good Lord, every time I try to improve my opinion of my fellow man, a bunch of them do something incredibly stupid... sigh...

Firstly the guy is a horrible person.

Secondly WHY WOULD YOU EVER RENT FROM THIS GUY?

just him talking is a red flag to me.

First off don't rent without having paper work. NEVER PAY CASH, I don't know a single land lord who's ever taken cash from me.

there's no way to track that!

I feel bad for them I do, but common buyer beware much?

Finally if your land lord says "i don't pay for the utilities" Run away from him even if he does own it. Because if he doesn't pay for services what makes you think he'll do anything to help you out in your apartment?

The real estate scams perpetrated on Craigslist hurt an exponentially greater number of people and do far more damage to society than any other crime connected to the site, but the government is more concerned about busting a few hookers because that's what gets headlines. Thanks for nothing, Cuomo, etc.

Yeah good work Fox5...I read about this a few weeks ago on...THE CONSUMERIST.

Wonder why Fox5 isn't covering the corporate crime in this country? Guess it's more their M.O. to display the evils of poor folks and minorities.

@Skankingmike: when i had no credit history at all i had a landlady who would only take cash for the 1st 6 months of my lease - but she always gave me a receipt without me having to ask. and, you know, there was a real lease and stuff.

@Skankingmike:

You can track cash, you just need to ask for a receipt.

That being said, I've never had a landlord that would accept cash. Which was a GIANT pain in the ass when I owned a store, since it was just a hell of a lot easier to pay myself from the till (yes, I filed it all for income taxes, I'm not an idiot). At the time I was tight on money and needed to keep track of every dime. Rather than write a cheque which would take a few days to cash and might bounce, paying with cash direct meant everyone would be happy.

So, instead I had to go to the post office and buy a money order every month.

Me (and the supers) would rather have just dealt with cash and writing/signing receipts. But not the landlord... *sigh*

@INsano: Give it a rest. This is a local affiliate running a sweeps-related investigative report.

@Skankingmike: The NYC rental market is very expensive and competitive for tenants. I have some otherwise smart friends there who have ignored their better instincts in attempts to get a sweet apartment deal.

In Living Color did this like 15 years ago - someone already mentioned the Homeboy Shopping Network - what's the line about not remember the past and being doomed to repeat it?

Mo' money! Mo' money! Mo' money! Uh oh, what's that sound? we're moving locations...

@bloggerX:

The house we bought was a forclosure. After we closed, the lazy real-estate agent who sold it did not remove the lockbox on the side door. We changed the locks when we moved in (so the knob that the box was on was no longer on the door), but I wondered if there were keys to our sliding glass door, so I pried open the lockbox to check.

I imagine he could probably pry open the lock boxes on an unsold forclosure to get the keys out...

@Skankingmike: To be fair it looks like he did do all the paperwork and gave receipts. Seems like it would be pretty easy to prosecute and it wasn't hard for the journalist to track him down.

@SPENCERG:
+1

I find nyself with very little sympathy for anyone who would actually deign to speak to this in-duh-vidual, let alone utilize the "Homeboy Hookup"...

If you're dumb enough to rent from this guy, you get what's coming to you.

He deserves to be castrated slowly.

@Skankingmike: Is there still the rent control issue in NYC? People sub-leasing rent controlled apartments with no lease and using cash only because if the apartment changes hands, legally, they can get market rate?

If so, it might explain the renters apparent ease with using cash and not getting receipts. They can get in trouble for re-renting a rent controlled apartment. At least that is how it was when my sister lived there years ago, sub-leasing a rent controlled apartment. She had to pay cash to "someone who knows someone." (The lady she sub-leased from was on a one year corporate training program overseas for her job, and did not want to lose her rent controlled lease, so she sub-leased it for that one year and then came back.)

Not that it justifies it or anything. Still scummy. Scummy to be renting illegally and scummy that people are willing to do so knowingly.

@CharlieInSeattle: No such thing. The police have no obligation to help you. Go read some Supreme Court rulings. Dereliction of Duty is military only.

Homeboy hookup should have been a dead give away, however people today are not honest enough to care.

Frankly, if I was one of his "tenants" I would track him down and shoot him. A man like that has no actual life and won't be missed if he ends up at the bottom of the Hudson river with the "homeboy-concrete-shoes."

In the video it has the apartment price as $1350/month being inexpensive .. wow I can't imagine paying that. I have a 4 bedroom house in northeast tn and my mortgage is only $550. How do people that earn minimum wage live there?!?

@Skankingmike: My landlord doesn't pay utilities, but they're great about everything. Every maintenance request has been responded to (and completed) in less than a day.

@blueneon: You don't live in one of the most expensive cities on Earth.

@INsano: The FOX corporation isn't pure conservative evil, and neither is Rupert himself. They just love making money. They'll happily throw conservative causes under the bus just as much as liberals if it makes them $$$.

@blueneon: OMG. $550? Maybe i should buy a house in your town just as investment property.

Here, 10 miles from San Francisco, my rent is $1350 for a 1-bedroom apartment. (650sf).

@bloggerX:

It's in the scammer's best interest not to get combative and do something that might get him arrested. As of now, he's doing his scams under the radar of the law and wants to keep it that way.

I'm glad they do these kinds of stories to get this guy's face on TV and the web so if he tries to do this again, the potential victims will recognize him and run.

@West Coast Secessionist: a lot of people do just that around here. there's a whole lot of former rentals being put up for sale right now because the real estate market is picking up in my city since we still have jobs available.
i live in a state capitol and am in the process of buying a house - 1600 sq ft, 3 BR, 2 BA with a 20 foot long kitchen and my mortgage, including insurance and taxes, will be a little under $800 a month

These scams are old. Years ago I remember reading about scam artists who moved into a seemingly abandoned home (including homes whose owners were away on extended vacations) and then sold the place. When the owner comes back, surprise!

@WorldHarmony: "These scams are old."

A few years ago there was a case in my area where a family was away on vacation and someone broke in, changed the locks (or found keys) and then rented the furnished house to 10 different people collecting rents and security deposits. Everyone was told they could move in on the first of the next month - on the first, 10 families tried to move into the same house. I don't remember if the owners returned before or after moving day.

How many of the "have some common sense" brigade have ever tried to rent an apartment in Brooklyn? With kids? I ended up in a commune in a converted warehouse in Newark because every apartment was wait-listed. Every. Apartment.

It's like that old Irish saying "hunger is a good sauce" - fear of sleeping on the A train with your kids might cause more suspension of disbelief than most people care to admit.

@Skankingmike:
It's pretty common to have to pay for your own utilities in rentals. I've lived in a lot of apartments and almost always paid my own utilities.

And they showed the leases the people signed AND the receipts the guy gave for cash. Besides, a good con man will be slick enough to cash a check before you realize you've been had. And few landlords take credit cards...

@I_have_something_to_say:
If you are low income in NY, and looking for a cheap place to stay, how are you going to know this guy is more of a con man than any of the other shysters out there? He does deserve to be castrated slowly, but the people who went to the effort of seeing apartments, getting receipts, and signing leases, where everything looked legit - I'm not sure they did anything wrong here. It's not like the apartments they were looking at were on Park Avenue here and cost $1350. Saying they deserve what they get is kind of harsh, particularly for a site like the Consumerist.

For some reason, I don't have much sympathy here. I don't see these people as victims, I see them as people with little common sense and a penchant for greed. It's not much different than people who take out a mortgage for $300,000 when they work as a cashier at Wal-Mart, then blame it on the mortgage company. Seriously, think about things before you do them. If it sounds too good too be true, then it most likely is.

@jodark: Shoot him? I LOVE it!!! Great idea.

@Kimberly Gist-Collins: Might I point you to MissKissLock's comment. This pretty much explains it. And honestly, I can live on a train, that wouldn't bother me. But, if I was responsible for other human beings (children) it'd be a whole nother box of potatoes. When you're trying to be a responsible parent it makes you blind to what would otherwise seem obvious.

@Kimberly Gist-Collins: really? In college I had landlords that were completely incompetent and talked just like the white guy equivalent of this guy.

Obviously Ive never been burned like the victims above, cause I did my homework and I dont live anywhere crazy like NY, but still, its not that hard of a con. All you need is someone who needs housing (easy) access to a house (easy if you break the law) some paperwork (easy) and a craigslist ad (easy)

@craptastico: Best part: the interview with the anonymous woman. "His exact words were 'I got da homeboy hookup'".

@subtlefrog:

God help those people if this type of 'landlord' is the only type that 'owns' this type of housing.

When I comment, I tend to pull from personal experience. When I was young, I would occasionally try to take advantage of really good deals - too good if you know what I mean. It never worked out and I got what I deserved.