Scammed out of rent and now owner wants us to pay full rent for this month

Aprilhinojos1

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
Hi,
My mother was just asked through her owners email to send the rent this month to her through western union since she was out of country and couldn't access her bank right away there. Since they usually correspond through email and was sending it to her name not somebody else and since she does actually travel, she thought nothing of it..until they asked her to then send a couple months in advance, to make a long story short it was a scam and her email was hacked and it wasn't actually her. But my sent the rent for this month already and the owner wants her to pay all the rent again to her. I said if anything it should be half since it was really neithers fault and both are losing at this point. Actually I feel she shouldn't have to pay at all because she doesn't have the money and it wasnt her fault it seemed like it was her, it was her stuff that got havked and they did their research on her. So what should be done from here?
 
So what should be done from here?


I can only speculate as to what will occur if your mother fails to pay her rent.

The LL will serve her with a notice to quit.

Once the time to vacate has expired, if your mother hasn't paid the rent or vacated the unit, the LL will move to evict her.

She hasn't paid the LL.

She has no valid legal defense.

Your mother may have been scammed.

That doesn't eliminate her legal obligation to honor her lease.

If she fails to pay as agreed, she's in breach of the lease and subject to eviction.

If you care about mother, get the rest of the family to get the money together so that mother doesn't get evicted.

You might also talk to mother about the vile creatures that slither across th eplanet scamming innocent people.
 
She owes the rent in full. It is not the landlord's fault that your mom fell for a classic scam.
Hopefully this has been retorted to law enforcement, but that money she paid is gone forever.
 
She owes the rent in full. It is not the landlord's fault that your mom fell for a classic scam.
Hopefully this has been retorted to law enforcement, but that money she paid is gone forever.
Even though it was yes a classic scam it was all her info and from the owners email which she request things from and was sent in the owners name?
 
The landlord plays no part in this scam.

I once had someone send a scammer money to hold as a deposit on one of my rental properties. They had stolen my ad and even used my name (although the address the person sent money to was somewhere in New York, not Georgia).

Was this my fault because my name was used? No. Was there anything I could do to help this person? Only to suggest that if she sent a personal check she attempt to contact her bank to get this check stopped.

Gail
 
Often a lease agreement says specifically when and where payment is due. Always pay according to the lease.
Mom isn't the first and won't be the last to fall victim to the scam. The warning signs were likely there.
Unfortunately it seems she sent the money out of the country. Even if you report this it is unlikely to be investigated by anyone.
 
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