Riverside tenants report being duped by fake homeowner
Two women reported being swindled out of $2,000 from someone who claimed to be the owner of a Riverside house they were renting, according to Southampton Town Police.
The incident was reported on Dec. 8, in which a woman said she met a man who portrayed himself as the owner of a home on Flanders Road in Riverside. The woman and her cousin gave him $1,000 to rent the home on a month-by-month basis, as well as $1,000 as a security deposit.
When the real owner of the home arrived, the women realized they had been duped, police said.
The property owner, a Port Jefferson man, had also reported on Dec. 8 that two people were living in the Flanders Road house which wasn’t supposed to have anyone living there because it didn’t have permits yet.
The people in the house told him they had been given permission to stay there by someone who said he was the owner, according to police.
The owner did not press charges against the women, according to police.