'He has absolutely ruined our lives': Family of six suffers housing scam

It has been a domino effect for a Bethany family who were supposed to move into their new home Saturday. Instead, this family of six had to scramble to find housing.   

Since being scammed, the family has not only been displaced, but this grandmother is wondering how she is going to pay for her grandkids' caps and gowns for graduation.  

“He has absolutely ruined our lives,” said Sandy Stevens, who took to Facebook Marketplace two weeks ago in search of a new home to rent.  

Stevens found a place in Midwest City and made arrangements with the alleged owner, who provided her with a code to go in and view the property.  

“He had me download an app called the Opendoor app and it just ask you to put in some information. You take a picture of your driver's license, it sends me a code to get it and I don't know how he had all this information,” said Stevens.  

She said she also received a rental agreement that appeared to be legitimate.  

Stevens adds that the man claiming to own the property asked her to then send the deposit through a local Bitcoin machine.  

She says she used a machine located at a local liquor store on Rockwell Avenue.  

Stevens said the man told her the Bitcoin machine was a more secure place.  

A little more than a week ago, Stevens told her granddaughter and family friend, Grace Frisby, that she was meeting her new landlord to get her keys.  

“The girls got suspicious because he didn't show up on time,” said Stevens.  

She says this is when they both started investigating.  

“I look up the address and I find a couple of other listings on different places like Realtors, Zillow and it has the house listed for sale,” said Frisby.   

Frisby says she called Opendoor and heard a prompt stating that if someone is attempting to rent a listing, press 2.   

Frisby said she pressed 2, spoke with a representative, and was told the person she was speaking with was not real.  

She said the representative suggested contacting the local police.  

Stevens contacted authorities, and they told her it's so hard to catch these people because they use fake names. They use fake phone numbers; they use fake Facebook pages.

Frisby said it is unfortunate that people take advantage of others who may not be technologically savvy or understanding what may or may not be a trusted way of conducting transactions.  

For now, Stevens is out more than 1000 dollars, and she said she is unable to pay for caps and gowns for her grandkids, who will soon be graduating.  

The family has started a GofundMe in hopes of recouping what they lost.