Scammers sought in phony apartment rental scheme

From PIX11:

Several New Yorkers hoping to move into new apartments were the victims of a scam, police said Monday.

The culprits met with the victims over the last few months and identified themselves as apartment owners, police said. They took deposits from victims and gave them keys for already-occupied apartments.

The scam started on April 1 when a man took a $1,400 deposit from a 40-year-old woman in Jackson Heights. Subsequent ‘deposits’ by other victims were for even more money. A 25-year-old woman gave a man $1,800 for an already-occupied apartment on April 21.

Mrs. Slumlord has her own thing going on

"So I recently came across your complaints against Ciafone, my former landlord. He refused to give my roommate and I our security deposit back, telling us individually that the other roommate used it for a month of rent. So we brought him copies of all the checks he deposited, with "Gina Argento" signature on the back. He avoided our phone calls for the next couple of months. Until finally we had a lawyer friend get in contact with him. He then proceeded to take down our new addresses where he would then be sending our security back to us. That never happened, and we could never get in contact with him again. During this whole process John would only tell us that he was NOT the landlord of the building, and when we asked who Gina Argento was (the person the checks were going to) he claimed he had no idea what we were talking about.

What do I do!! I want to catch this scumbag. Thanks!"

Anonymous

I inquired as to which building this person lived in.

"I lived in the one on Steinway, 25-59. Really run down, didn't have smoke detectors when we moved in. But we wrote the checks to Gina Argento and slid them under his door every month, and I still have copies of the checks."

Ah, slid them under his law office door...

Here's the list of 25 open violations for this property. And here's what you get on HPD's website:

Why isn't this building currently registered at HPD? It is, by all appearances, a rent-stabilized building. Do the tenants of this building realize they are living in rent-stabilized apartments, or is deception about that also part of the game?

I replied to this unfortunate individual that the best course of action would be a report to HPD and a small claims court lawsuit.

Furthermore:

• Why does the Brooklyn Borough President continue to allow Gina Argento to sit on Brooklyn CB1?
• Why do politicians fawn all over her considering her history?
• Why are DEC and City Parks Foundation allowing a boat house to be constructed with taxpayer money on a parcel she half-owns since her city-regulated properties have lots of unresolved issues?