Lexington woman claims she was scammed by fake Zillow property manager

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A Lexington couple says after months of searching for that perfect home, they found it only to be left without working keys, a place to stay and scammed out of more than a thousand dollars.

Luckki Davis and her family had been searching for a rental home since August when a property on Lindenhurst Loop popped up in her Zillow search. She thought it was the perfect fit, and she was told it was going to be fixed up with new appliances.

Davis says she knew they had been scammed when they could not get in contact with the person she thought was the property manager anymore, and the keys did not open the door.

Davis says the Zillow listing was actually fake.

She showed us a lease agreement made with the person she thought was the property manager.

“The property management does not exist in Lexington. It’s a company based in Tennessee,” Davis said. “When you met her, she said her name was Tamara Baker.”

In January, the Davis family says they met Baker at a credit union in the Hamburg area and gave her money orders worth more than $1,600 for a deposit and part of the rent.

“She signed the money order in her real name which is Justina Boggs,” Davis said.

Justina Boggs now faces multiple charges, including theft by deception.

She spoke to us from the Fayette County Detention Center.

“I had no access to that Zillow account. I simply cashed some money orders. That’s all I did,” Boggs told us.

Boggs said when she received the money orders, she didn’t ask any questions, claiming Davis and her husband were family. However, Davis says she only met Boggs once, and that was to give her the money orders for the townhome.

Davis says she left the “pay to the order of” part of the check blank, trusting Boggs to fill in the correct name.

Davis says they wish they hadn’t signed the lease agreement without seeing the property first.

She has some advice for other home buyers.

“Just cross your t’s, dot your i’s, do an extra check,” said Davis. “Cause if it could happen to me...it could happen to anyone else.”

The Better Business Bureau serving Greater Kentucky and South Central Indiana says the Zillow website does have a link about rental scams. The BBB also says red flags should go up when the landlord won’t show the property and when the landlord or property manager requests you pay with a cash wire transfer or money order.