{"id":288467,"date":"2026-05-29T03:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/288467\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T03:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:35:08","slug":"man-accused-in-facebook-marketplace-rental-scam-says-he-was-set-up-by-another-suspect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/288467\/","title":{"rendered":"Man accused in Facebook Marketplace rental scam says he was set up by another suspect"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI \u2014 A man accused in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/27\/miami-family-loses-thousands-in-alleged-facebook-marketplace-rental-scam\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2026\/05\/27\/miami-family-loses-thousands-in-alleged-facebook-marketplace-rental-scam\/\">Facebook Marketplace rental scam<\/a> says he\u2019s not the one responsible, even as investigators say multiple victims lost thousands of dollars in the scheme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Local 10 News was at Westland Mall meeting with the man at the center of the case after he agreed to speak in a public place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Joseph Saroza has been arrested and is facing multiple counts of fraud. Police say he scammed at least six people through bogus Facebook Marketplace apartment rentals around Miami, taking deposits for units that didn\u2019t exist and allegedly providing fake keys. Detectives say victims lost thousands and thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">But in an exclusive interview with Local 10 News, Saroza pushed back, saying he\u2019s the one who was actually scammed by someone else.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Investigators say people paid deposits, received fake key cards and leases, and were ultimately swindled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">After reporters went to Saroza\u2019s home Wednesday night seeking his side of the story, he later called and agreed to talk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">When asked about the scam, he said he didn\u2019t know about it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cCorrect,\u201d Saroza said. \u201cIt\u2019s the other guy. The money to bond me out was raised by family members.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Local 10 New\u2019s Jeff Derderian also pressed him about alleged fake key cards, leases and cash payments from victims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u2018Like I told you on the phone, if I have to work for three years straight I\u2019ll do it,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">When asked why he allegedly cut off communication with people who believed they were renting apartments, Saroza said he was not the one controlling the phone tied to the operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Saroza says he is done with the apartment rental business, but he remains in the legal system. He is now facing multiple fraud charges tied to the alleged scheme.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 A man accused in a Facebook Marketplace rental scam says he\u2019s not the one responsible, even&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-288467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}