Police searching for man involved in Queens rental scam
QUEENS, New York (WABC) -- Police in Queens are searching for a man they say may be behind a rental scam that's fleeced potential renters out of thousands of dollars.
Officials say the man pictured in surveillance is responsible for meeting with at least 11 people and collecting deposits between $1,900 and $2,900 for apartments not available for rent.
Each victim reported that they were unable to reach the man after the deposit transaction.
The buildings where the victims met with this man are located in Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Corona and North Corona.
The initial reported incident took place last year on July 23, while the most recent incident occurred on December 31.
The man wanted for questioning identifies himself as "Antonio", "Toni", "Patricio", "Emilio", "Tomas", "Alfredo", "Angel Dejesus" and "Jesus Parra".
Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. All calls are strictly confidential.
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