![\"Houston](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5ww0vsib8hba0gxb.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A woman says she is out hundreds of dollars after falling victim to a rental scam in northwest Houston.<\/p>\n
Rental scam targets woman in northwest Houston <\/p>\n
What we know:<\/p>\n
The woman, who asked FOX 26 not to reveal her identity, said last week, she found a home for rent on Redfin’s website. The home is located along Needles Throw Lane.<\/p>\n
She said a man contacted her about the property, sent her a lease agreement and gave her a code to get inside the home. She paid the man $750.<\/p>\n
She later learned the man did not own the home and said she had been scammed.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s very disappointing. It hurts so bad. It hurts knowing somebody did this to me,” the woman told FOX 26. “It\u2019s not right. It\u2019s not fair. Just beware.”<\/p>\n
The Houston Police Department said it is investigating the case.<\/p>\n
![\"Livestream\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/default-image.png\")
Redfin responds <\/p>\n
FOX 26 reached out to Redfin, the real estate website and brokerage, about the listing.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said, “Redfin takes safety and security seriously, and we have built a multi-layer approach to protect renters from fraud.<\/p>\n
In this case, the listing came from a third-party multiple listing service (MLS), which then syndicated it to\u00a0Redfin.com<\/a>\u00a0and several other websites that display rental listings. We have removed the listing from Redfin and its affiliated sites, and we have alerted the third-party MLS to this issue.<\/p>\n We continue to use the latest tools and best practices to keep consumers safe and stay ahead of scammers. Renters can review these\u00a0tips from the FTC<\/a>\u00a0for avoiding hard-to-spot scams. Always see the property in person and never pay anyone until you\u2019ve visited the property and are ready to sign a lease.”<\/p>\n Invitation Homes responds <\/p>\n FOX 26 also contacted Invitation Homes, the home leasing and management company that owns the property.<\/p>\n A spokesperson said the company is frustrated when its homes are used in rental scams and works with a third party to identify and remove fraudulent listings involving its properties.<\/p>\n Invitation Homes warned prospective renters to be cautious of requests for cash or wire payments, unusually high security deposits and situations in which no background check is required.<\/p>\n The company also encouraged anyone interested in one of its homes to contact Invitation Homes directly through its official website.<\/p>\n How to spot a rental scam <\/p>\n Leah Napoliello with the Better Business Bureau said renters should watch for several red flags.<\/p>\n “If the price is extremely low for the rental compared to other prices in the area, that\u2019s always a red flag,” Napoliello said.<\/p>\n She also warned about people requesting unusual payment methods, including prepaid debit cards, Cash App, gift cards or cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n “Those are all untraceable payment methods, so someone could just take the money and run,” Napoliello said.<\/p>\n Renters should also be suspicious if they are not allowed to tour a property before paying.<\/p>\n “You should always get that opportunity to tour the property,” Napoliello said. “Make sure the person that you\u2019re in touch with is really the true owner.”<\/p>\n The Houston Association of Realtors said renters can also verify a listing agent\u2019s credentials through the Texas Real Estate Commission.<\/p>\n Anyone who believes they have been targeted by a rental scam should report it to local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission.<\/p>\n The Source: Invitation Homes statement, Redfin statement, interview with victim who didn’t want to be identified<\/p>\n Harris County<\/a>News<\/a>Houston<\/a>Top Stories<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A woman says she is out hundreds of dollars after falling victim to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[405,56,58,57,223,2053,216,393],"class_list":["post-411563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-harris-county","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-tx","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}