Burton couple caught in rental home scam

BURTON, Mich. (WNEM) - A mid-Michigan couple is out hundreds of dollars after getting caught in a con while looking to rent a home and they are not the first to get scammed.

Burton couple Ricky and Ann Argue are out more than $700.

“Super bad, honestly. Just, I haven’t taken a hit like this hard in -- since COVID first started,” Ricky Argue said.

“We found out from the neighbor that these people have been scamming people for a couple years now,” Ann Argue said.

The Argues were looking for a home to rent and saw one in a post on Facebook Marketplace.

The post directed the couple to another person, who had the Argues send money to an account for who he said was his son.

“We seen people moving out of it and we’re like, ‘oh it is.’ like, it’s not a scam, like there’s people legit moving out so that means we’re gonna move in,” Ann Argue said.

But when they arrived yesterday to get the keys he never showed.

“Guy never showed up, we had two, another couple showed up as well to look at the house and also get the keys as well,” Ricky Argue said.

The argues are on a strict deadline.

“Feels pretty upsetting because we also have a kid on the way too. So, we’re trying to find a house that way we can start living our lives again,” Ann Argue said.

Ann is 20 weeks pregnant with a baby girl.

“Everything’s skyrocketing. For a one-bedroom apartment it’s $860 nowadays. For a one bedroom,” Ann Argue said.

TV5 knocked on the door of the home and nobody answered. It appeared the house was cleaned out and no one lives there.

When TV5 called the man the Argues dealt with, it went to voicemail.

He responded to a text, asking if we wanted to rent the home. He did not reply after that.

“We’re young, we’re hard workers, and it’s already, we’ve been hit with so many obstacles on the way, like it’s crazy, and then to get hit with another obstacle after we just started to get on our feet again and started to get where we needed to be. It’s really hard,” Ann Argue said.

The Argue’s have setup a GoFundMe to raise the money they have lost in this scam. If you would like to donate you can here.

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