SCOTTSDALE (AZFamily) — A Valley woman says she was caught in the middle of an elaborate scam, nearly paying more than $1,000 as a security deposit to someone she believed was a real estate agent to rent a home in Scottsdale. It turned out the home was never for rent.
Renting a home is already stressful — finding a property, filling out applications, getting approved and providing personal information. In this case, instead of dealing with a verified seller, a scammer gained access to nearly all of her personal information.
It all came down to the details for Alexis Bogiatzis.
“I work from home. I just want more space,” Bogiatzis said. “It would be nice to just have at least maybe one extra closet or one extra bedroom. Yeah, a house, a townhouse is really kind of what I’m looking for right now.”
With that checklist, Bogiatzis began searching for her next rental. But focusing too closely on details meant she missed the bigger picture.
After scouring the internet, Bogiatzis said she found a three-bedroom, two-bath home in Scottsdale listed for rent on Realtor.com. Fully renovated, it seemed almost too good to be true.
“I found this really nice property over in Scottsdale that was listed and I was super excited about it,” she said. “It was $2,300 a month. I clicked the link on there to request more information and to tour the property.”
The following day she received a text from someone identifying himself as Frederick.
“It said we see you’re interested in the property, would you like to move forward, basically?” Bogiatzis said.
A few days later, she showed up for a scheduled tour.
“I had pulled up to the property. I called him. I said, I’m here. I don’t have a code. Also, I still see a for-sale sign on the property,” she said.
The sign showed the home was for sale by Opendoor, but Bogiatzis believed she was there to rent it. After multiple attempts, she eventually received a code and went inside.
The next day she completed an application.
“So I had to give my address. I had to give my Social Security number,” Bogiatzis said. “I had to give a pay stub with all of my information, where I work, how much I make, lots of information there. I had to give a W-2 form.”
Frederick later told her she was approved and asked for a security deposit.
“He wanted me to Zelle him the security deposit,” Bogiatzis said.
Her bank immediately blocked the transaction.
“And then he switched it over to Venmo and luckily Venmo blocked both payments. And an error actually came up on Venmo that said, ‘this is a scam,’” she said.
Frederick also sent her a photo of what he claimed was an Arizona driver’s license.
The for-sale sign by Opendoor was legitimate. The home is listed online for sale at $750,000.
We reached out to Opendoor asking who Frederick is. The company sent a statement saying it takes fraud seriously and does not rent homes.
“To be clear: Opendoor does not rent homes. The property is listed exclusively for sale, and our employees never request payment via Zelle, Venmo or other peer-to-peer apps,” the statement said. “Opendoor homes are clearly marked as not for rent, and we maintain dedicated teams focused on detecting, investigating and reporting fraud. Bad actors sometimes copy legitimate for-sale listings from sites like Realtor.com or Zillow and falsely represent themselves as owners or agents offering rentals. Frederick Cooley has no affiliation with Opendoor. We take a zero-tolerance approach to fraud; we investigate every report immediately and work with the necessary parties to report it. We also encourage anyone who encounters this type of outreach to stop communication immediately and report it to both the platform where they saw the listing and local authorities.”
“Venmo’s telling me it’s a scam. Zelle’s telling me it’s a scam. It’s right in my face that it’s a scam,” Bogiatzis said.
We also reached out directly to Frederick, requesting an application to rent. After receiving one, we followed up using his phone number, identifying ourselves as Arizona’s Family.
“And after doing some digging, I talked to Opendoor. And Opendoor says they have no idea who you are. This home is for sale and not for rent. So I’m trying to ask you the question: how are you getting people inside this home?” we asked.
“Frederick, are you asking people to pay a security deposit through Zelle and Venmo?” we asked.
Frederick responded, “NO I WAS NOT ASKING PEOPLE TO PAY A SECURITY DEPOSIT THROUGH ZELLE OR VENMO.” He then hung up and blocked the number.
Susan Tollakson, who lives next door, said the previous owners had to move abruptly and sold the home to Opendoor.
“Really, really nice young couple. Just had a new baby. Just real sweet couple,” Tollakson said.
She said over the past few weeks dozens of people have shown up trying to get inside the home, confused by the for-sale sign.
“Oh, I just feel bad for anybody that got scammed by that guy. That’s terrible,” she said.
Bogiatzis is now back on her couch, still searching for a rental — but with a new perspective.
“Do not work with someone who claims to be a private landlord working for a private homeowner,” she said. “It really is something I’ll look at now.”
If you’re looking for a home, Scottsdale real estate agent Zack Heene said rental scams are becoming more common and more sophisticated.
“Just, it’s almost like your gut feeling. The best thing is to meet the person. If you don’t ever meet the person, it’s going to be, who knows if it’s legit. If you meet the person, at least you’ll be able to talk to them and go through steps,” Heene said. “If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.”
Bogiatzis filed a police report with Scottsdale police. The case is under investigation.
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