Two scammers preyed on young people moving to the Big Apple by collecting thousands of dollars in rent money for trendy apartments that weren’t theirs to rent, authorities said Tuesday.
“Many of the victims were young, first-time New Yorkers who believed they had signed a legitimate lease, only to find out when attempting to move in that their new apartment was already occupied,’’ said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. in a statement after the suspects’ indictment.
Alleged con artists Matthew Wada and Jennifer York collected $60,000 from 20 victims in just four months, Vance said.
The despicable scheme “left several of [the victims] temporarily homeless,” he said.
The pair would first rent short-term apartments in sought-after neighborhoods such as Chelsea, Greenwich Village and the East Village through websites including Craigslist and NYHabitat.com, officials said.
They’d then allegedly spend the next few weeks showing off the pads to various prospective tenants, with several plunking down deposits for the same apartment.
The victims coughed up anywhere from $150 to $4,500, thinking they were securing the pad, authorities said.
When the victims then tried to move in, they found the home occupied by the legal tenant — and Wada and York nowhere to be found, officials said.
Wada, 36, and York, 27, were indicted on charges including scheming to defraud and grand larceny. Both pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
York was freed on $5,000 bail, while Wada was held on $250,000 bail.