A woman said she doesn’t have a home after she was scammed out of an apartment in Broward County, saying she gave thousands of dollars to someone who posed as a realtor and the apartment complex ultimately evicted her.
Read more How to get to a World Cup game in Miami: The transportation options to help you celebrate
Brendy Francis said everything seemed legit, but she said she lost thousands of dollars and a home for her and her two children.
“I trusted her,” Francis said.
Francis said in February, she reached out to a woman who was advertising apartments for rent in Oakland Park. She was interested in La Estancia apartments.
“She told me all I have to do is pay first, last security, which was $6,300,” Francis said.
Francis said she met with the woman, Harmony Fucien, who gave her a walkthrough of the apartment before she paid her the $6,300 in cash.
Francis said everything was fine until she tried to pay rent in April. She said the leasing manager told her there was a balance of more than $5,000 on the unit.
“They started to tell me that, you know, it was a fake check that was provided,” Francis said.
The arrest report said Francis was not listed as an official tenant for the unit. She said she reached out to Fucien, but Fucien blocked her number and on social media.
Read more Man on trial for 2024 murder caught on surveillance in Lauderhill
Francis said she wasn’t allowed to live at the apartment anymore and the complex threw her things away.
“They threw all my kids’ furniture, their beds, dressers, my dining table, my dining chairs,” Francis said.
The arrest report said the check Fucien gave the complex was false and she used someone else’s identity to put on the lease. Detectives arrested her for the scam in May.
“All of that was just an image, like she was just pretending like she cared and everything, everything was fake,” Francis said.
Francis is trying to figure out how to move forward, but she’s also ready to fight for justice. She’s hoping to retain a lawyer.
“Please don’t fall into these traps, don’t trust nobody, please just go to the legit way,” Francis said.
NBC6 reached out to the management company for the apartment complex and was waiting to hear back.
Read more Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profit over safety