Apartment Fraud Leaves Student Homeless

A recent apartment rental scam in Somerville's Union Square has left seven people, including at least one Harvard student, with no apartment and hundreds of dollars gone from their bank accounts, according to the Somerville Police Department.

The Harvard student, Jinbao Quian, a Ph.D. candidate in history and East Asian languages, said the scam began when he answered an apartment rental advertisement listed at the Harvard Housing Office (HHO).

The day after answering the ad in September, Qian said he was shown the apartment by a man claiming to be the landlord. He then made out an $800 check to the man and was told he could pick up his key on Oct. 1, Qian said.

Soon after, the man called Qian and told him he would have to wait until Oct. 3 before he could move in. But this date came and went, and Qian was unable to contact the supposed landlord.

He eventually went to the Somerville apartment building and discovered that the supposed landlord didn't have authorization to rent out the apartment at all.

Residents of the apartment building--which is a home for people who have been through a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program run by CASPAR, Inc.--said they had seen the supposed landlord showing the room, but hadn't realized the scheme was occurring.

"[The man] was showing people Eddie's room. I had no idea what he was doing," said one resident who asked not to be identified, in part because the facility is for people who have completed rehabilitation programs.

The resident said the supposed landlord has since left the complex, leaving police and fleeced renters behind.

"He just left," he said. "I was woken up one day by the police and some victims looking for [the man], but he was gone."

Dave Wilson, director of men's recovery for CASPAR, confirmed that the supposed landlord had lived in the building and departed hastily. An apartment in the building is still listed under the supposed landlord's name.

"There was a person that moved out of the apartment the day that this all happened," said Wilson. He said that CASPAR does run background checks on all potential residents of the home, and instances of law-breaking are rare.

Somerville police said that they have identified a suspect who they believe made off with thousands of dollars, but would not divulge the suspect's name.

After a week of not being able to reach the man he believed was the landlord, Qian eventually found out that his check had been cashed on Sept. 26.

"It was a fraud," said Qian. "I realize that now, but I was not so suspicious then."

On Oct. 11 Qian called the HHO to lodge a complaint.

"When I called they said that [other] people had complained," he said. HHO said yesterday that Qian's complaint was the first they heard of the scam. A Somerville Police representative said HHO was notified on Oct. 2, over a week before Qian called.

Qian said he wished HHO could do more to prevent the scams.

"They were not helpful with my complaint...they just told me they would remove the listing and that I should go see the Somerville police," Qian said.

HHO does not run security checks to prevent such instances of fraud.

"We are very clear that ...it is up to users [of the office apartment listings] to do security checks. It's much like the classifieds section of a newspaper," said Wrinn. HHO does, however, ask that all students who experience any such instances of housing fraud report them to HUPD and HHO.