More alleged victims have come forward after seeing an NBC 7 report about an elaborate con man scamming people through popular property rental sites.
NBC 7 heard from three people who each fell for a scam in which they believed they were renting a Carlsbad condo on Craigslist from a man who called himself David.
David posed as the owner of the decently priced condo, that to many, seemed too good to be true. The real owner, Nick Foster, was tricked by David too.
David rented the condo from Foster through AirBnB for several weeks and used that time to methodically trick people into trusting him. He toured the unit, shared details about his personal life and the job that he had to leave town for. He told variations of the same story to several victims, and also switched phone numbers half way through each of the correspondences with the renters.
He went as far as discussing his faith with 21-year-old bank teller Aspen Downing.
"God gave him a good life and he just wants to bless other people with it," she recounted.
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He seemed to have every detail in place from in-person lease signings to testing out the keys in front of the renter.
"He showed me the keys working the dead bolt. And yeah this guy is really good," said one victim who wanted to remain anonymous.
But once the cash was exchanged, and move-in day came around, David was long gone.
In several instances, the keys no longer worked and people, who turned out to be Foster’s real tenants, were inside. Once David had left the rental, Foster had replaced the vacation rental sign that had been removed to fit the scheme. In all three cases, the scammed renters called the number on the sign, which belonged to Foster. From there, the pieces of the puzzle all came together.
"I felt so stupid. I was like how could I have let this happen. I deal with fraud all day. How did this get over my head," said Downing.
Carlsbad police are investigating.
Courtney Hulla, who was also victimized by the scam, shared her experience with NBC 7 last week.
"$650 deposit, $650 rent. We were like it's a nice area. That seems too good to be true," said Hulla.
