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Rental Scam Hits Hollywood, Police Say

More than two dozen victims may have been conned while using Craigslist to find an apartment, LAPD says. Three suspects reportedly arrested.

Detectives are seeking victims who may have been conned by a Craigslist scam targeting people looking for rental housing, Los Angeles police announced Wednesday afternoon. Three suspects reportedly have been arrested in the scam.

Investigators believe there could be more than two dozen victims in Los Angeles who responded to an ad on the classified website, including in the Hollywood area.

Explaining to TV station CBS2 how she was conned, Tanzy Harris, a hair stylist and single mother of three, said she was looking to move from a one-bedroom apartment in September and responded to an ad on Craigslist for an apartment near Sunset and Vine in Hollywood listed for $1,288 a month.

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As Harris told it, she was given the lock-box code, and met the next day with a man who claimed to represent the owner. She gave him a $1,350 deposit, she said. He gave her a key. But she found out the following day that the key did not work and noticed a sign posted on the wall warning about people working a scam in the area, CBS2 reported.

"The suspects preyed on a lot of people with not a lot of money who were looking for a better place to live," LAPD Detective Joe Chavez told CBS2.

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LAPD SWAT officers Tuesday morning raided an apartment near Silver Lake from where the con is believed to have been run, CBS2 reported.

Two people were arrested, including alleged ringleader Keith Adkins, 29, a registered sex offender who got out of prison in June, and a third suspect was arrested across town, according to the station.

"I ain't ripping no one off," Adkins told CBS2.

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