A Long Island family has been left homeless after a rental arrangement fell apart, and investigators are examining whether they were the latest victims of a scheme that has already ensnared renters across Nassau and Suffolk counties. CBS News New York correspondent Carolyn Gusoff is looking into whether the family was targeted by fraud or caught up in what she describes as a terrible mix-up, according to a report from CBS News New York.
The case lands amid a run of rental scams that Nassau County authorities say stretches across multiple towns on Long Island. According to fox5ny.com, police believe there may be more unidentified victims across the region beyond the cases already uncovered. Two suspects, Aurelia Soogea and William Fickbohm, have been charged with multiple counts of second-degree burglary, third-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud, the outlet reports.
In one incident detailed by the station, a 49-year-old woman was allegedly scammed out of a $7,000 security deposit and first month's rent after meeting the suspects to rent a home in Hempstead on July 17. Investigators determined the suspects had broken into the home's exterior lockbox, stolen the key, and posed as the property owners to collect the money, per the same outlet's reporting.
A Separate Case Raises Questions About Who the Real Victims Are
In another Long Island case that illustrates how murky these disputes can become, police say a man named Vernon Glass entered a vacant home on Rosedale Road on April 1 and set himself up as the landlord. As reported by nbcnewyork.com, he went on to switch the locks, get the electrical system working and rent the home out to three people. Glass, 32, was arrested on burglary charges following the investigation.
Glass has claimed that he and his family were victims too, saying he was given a fake lease before he and his family moved into the home themselves, NBC New York reports. But an attorney representing the home's actual owner told the station that at no point in time did the owner enter into a lease agreement or give permission to Mr. Glass to rent out the property, presenting a direct conflict between the two accounts.
Scams Collide With a Worsening Housing Crisis
These cases are unfolding against the backdrop of a housing shortage that has pushed more Long Islanders into homelessness. The region's homeless population rose 13.4% between 2024 and the latest point-in-time count, climbing from 4,002 to 4,540 people, according to Newsday. The same count found unsheltered homelessness jumped from 209 to 320 people, and children now make up nearly a third of the region's homeless population, at 1,493 individuals.
Mike Giuffrida of the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless told the paper that families already in shelter spend close to 90% of their income on shelter payments. The coalition points to the severe lack of affordable housing as the main driver of the crisis, and Newsday's reporting notes that more than half of Long Island renters are cost-burdened, spending over 30% of their monthly income on housing even before any scam enters the picture.
Fraud Complaints Climbing Alongside Rents
Rental fraud itself has become its own statewide problem. The Federal Trade Commission received 379 rental-scam complaints from Nassau and Suffolk counties in 2025, and statewide, 839 New Yorkers lost a combined $15.8 million to real-estate-related fraud that year, per Newsday's wallet-watch coverage. Renters are increasingly targeted with fake listings, bogus fees and requests for personal information, as the median asking rent in Suffolk County reached $2,943 per month as of July 28.
A separate scam uncovered in Medford shows how far some schemes go. Police said a fake realtor couple required cash deposits in exchange for house keys and victimized at least two sets of parents and children, according to CBS News New York. One victim paid $4,000 and another paid just over $4,000 before discovering the keys they'd been given did not work and the phone number they'd been calling had been disconnected. The suspects allegedly posted rental fliers inside the Laundry Kingdom laundromat, and the bogus keys were for a house on Sipp Avenue. A Newsday-Hofstra poll found that 70% of respondents considered Long Island housing options a problem, underscoring how widely the squeeze is felt.
Another renter, Judith Damelio, told Newsday she spent the past year combing apartment listings for a rarity on Long Island: a home for about $1,500 or less. In one encounter, a person claiming to rent an $825 apartment asked her to buy a $75 Apple gift card and send over the card information before she could even see the unit — a tactic that illustrates how scammers are exploiting desperate renters searching for affordable housing.
Where Renters Can Turn for Help
Nassau County's Homelessness Intervention Program can be reached at 516-571-0370 for residents facing housing emergencies, according to the Nassau County government's housing assistance page. Long Island Housing Services and Legal Services of Long Island also offer tenant counseling and rental assistance programs for renters navigating disputes or fraud, while Family Service League provides broader housing and homeless services across the region. As investigators continue examining the circumstances behind the Long Island family's loss of housing, officials say anyone who believes they may have encountered a similar rental scheme should come forward, since authorities believe additional victims have not yet been identified.
