Tampa Bay 28 consumer investigator Susan El Khoury opened her report with a scenario that sounds almost unreal until you remember how fast scams move online: imagine someone posting your home for rent on social media, collecting attention – and potentially money – from strangers, and then when you report it, the platform shrugs and leaves it up.
That, El Khoury reported, is what a Tampa Bay-area realtor says happened to her when she discovered a rental post on Facebook that was using her photos, her property description, and her work as bait.
The realtor, Andrea Stoll, told El Khoury the moment she saw the post she felt a “pit in my stomach,” because it wasn’t just an annoying copycat listing – it looked like the kind of setup that can trick people into sending deposits or personal information before they realize there’s no real rental at all.
What makes this story sting is not only the scam itself, but the alleged first response from Facebook: according to El Khoury, Stoll reported it repeatedly and was told, in effect, that it didn’t violate commerce rules, so it stayed up.
“These Are All My Photos”
El Khoury explained that Stoll spotted the fake listing because it looked “familiar,” and that word does a lot of work here, because familiarity is exactly what scammers steal. They don’t create credibility from scratch – they borrow it from real listings, real agents, and real photos that already look professional.
Stoll told El Khoury the post featured “all of my photos,” and she recognized the written description too because it was “copied and pasted… word for word.” In other words, whoever built the listing didn’t just take a few images; they took the full package that makes a property feel legitimate.
The property at the center of the report was a Tampa townhouse Stoll had recently listed and also owns, El Khoury said, which meant the scam wasn’t merely impersonating her business – it was using her personal asset as the hook.
Then there was the price. El Khoury reported that the fake post advertised the home for $1,180, which Stoll flagged as “significantly below market value,” a detail that matters because bargain pricing is one of the oldest scam tricks on the internet.
A price that feels too good creates urgency, and urgency is what gets people to act before they verify anything.
The Phone Call That Tipped Her Off
In El Khoury’s telling, Stoll might not have discovered the scam quickly if someone else hadn’t called her first.
Stoll said she got a phone call from a person who had seen the Facebook rental post, then looked up the home, and noticed Stoll had it legitimately listed as well. That caller asked questions, and in doing so accidentally acted as an early warning system.
Stoll told El Khoury she asked for the post right away – “can you please send me the post, you know, it’s not real”—and then she did what most people assume should solve the problem: she went to the listing and reported it.
This is where the story stops being only about a scammer and starts being about the giant platform hosting the scam.
Because according to El Khoury, the post did not come down.
It was “still posted,” Stoll said, even after she reported it, and even after she kept reporting it.
Facebook’s Response, And The Silence That Followed
El Khoury reported that Stoll showed her Facebook’s message explaining why it wasn’t removed, and the explanation is the kind that makes people grind their teeth: the platform said it reviewed the listing and it didn’t go against its commerce policies, so it stayed up.
Stoll told El Khoury she kept filing reports and kept getting the same canned answer, and what frustrated her most wasn’t only the decision but the process – she couldn’t get a real person to look at the scam and understand what was happening.
“I can’t get a live person,” Stoll said in El Khoury’s report, explaining that she couldn’t explain that the photos were hers or that the property was being re-listed to “take money from people.”
That line is the gut of the problem. A fake rental listing isn’t a prank; it’s often a pipeline into fraud. Victims can lose deposits, get their credit scuffed, or hand over personal details that become tools for bigger crimes.
And when the platform doesn’t act quickly, the scam stays live long enough to do damage.
There’s also a broader frustration sitting underneath Stoll’s complaint, and you could hear it in her words as El Khoury presented them: “There is no doubt in my mind that Facebook has the ability to do better and they should do better.”
That’s not a technical argument. It’s a trust argument.
Facebook and similar platforms want the public to treat them like essential community infrastructure, but when the public asks for a basic safety response – remove a clear scam using stolen photos – the platform can behave like it’s just a bulletin board with no responsibility.
How Susan El Khoury Forced An Answer
El Khoury’s report didn’t end with the listing still up, and that’s the most telling part of the entire segment.
She said she contacted the person behind the post, and the reply she received was basically a sales pitch: the home was still available, she could leave her number, and an “assistant” would reach out. El Khoury said she never heard back, which fits the pattern of scam listings that are designed to draw victims into private messages where the pressure tactics begin.
Then El Khoury did the step Stoll couldn’t do alone: she reached out to Facebook.
El Khoury said it took a few tries, but she eventually got a spokesperson on the line. And within 24 hours, she received a message saying the content violated privacy-related community standards and “was removed.”
El Khoury checked online and confirmed the post was gone.
That outcome is satisfying on the surface – problem solved, scam removed – but it also raises a question that lingers like a bad smell: if the listing didn’t violate policy when a homeowner reported it, why did it suddenly violate policy when a reporter called?
This is where the story takes on that familiar consumer-investigation sting: a platform may be “too busy” to help you, until you show up with a camera and a deadline.
El Khoury said she followed up to ask what changed and whether Facebook would adjust its review process, but she reported the company didn’t answer those questions.
Which is its own kind of answer.
Why Fake Rentals Are So Hard To Shut Down
El Khoury brought in Eric Olsen (also referenced as Eric Olson in the transcript), who investigates consumer complaints for Hillsborough County’s Code Enforcement Department, to explain why scams like this keep happening and why stopping them is so difficult.
Olsen told El Khoury that renters can protect themselves with a simple step: in Florida, use the property appraiser’s website to search ownership and verify that the person claiming to rent the home matches the actual owner or entity.
That’s practical advice, and it’s the kind of thing more people should know, especially in high-demand rental markets where desperation makes people rush.
Olsen also told El Khoury it’s smart to check out whoever is listing the home, which is where the red flags start stacking up. El Khoury noted that the account behind the Tampa listing went by “Kellie Hardy,” had no profile picture, and had joined Facebook in 2025, and that the same account appeared to advertise other rentals priced below typical Tampa rates.
When a profile looks thin, new, and oddly generic – no real history, no real identity details – it’s often not a person you want to hand money to, no matter how convincing the listing looks.
Olsen went further, according to El Khoury, saying that in similar investigations, scammers are often “out of the area, out of the country,” using fake identities, and that it can be difficult even for law enforcement to verify who they are and bring them to justice.
That explains why these scams spread: the criminals are far away, hidden behind layers of online anonymity, and the damage happens locally, one victim at a time.
It’s also why platform response time matters so much. If enforcement is hard, prevention and rapid removal become even more critical.
Red Flags Renters Should Treat Like Sirens
El Khoury’s report laid out a few warning signs that deserve to be repeated, because they’re easy to overlook when someone thinks they’ve found a deal.
The first is the price. Stoll immediately noticed the fake listing was far below what the market would support, and that matters because scammers price low on purpose. They want a flood of messages, not slow serious buyers.
The second is the profile. El Khoury highlighted the lack of a profile picture and the recent join date, which often signals an account created specifically to run scams, burn out, and disappear.
The third is the push to move communication off-platform or into private arrangements. In El Khoury’s experience contacting the poster, the response was vague—“leave my number and an assistant will reach out”—which is a classic way to move the conversation somewhere less visible and easier to manipulate.
And the fourth, maybe the biggest, is refusal to allow a proper verification step. Scammers often dodge requests to tour the property, claim they’re “out of town,” or ask for money upfront to “hold” the place.
Even honest landlords can be busy, but honest landlords usually don’t act like ghosts.
The Part That Should Make Facebook Nervous
Stoll’s frustration, as El Khoury presented it, wasn’t only personal. She framed it as part of her job and part of public safety.
“As realtors, our job is to protect the public,” Stoll told El Khoury, and that’s an important point because real estate isn’t just listings and commissions – real estate is where people live, where families put roots down, and where scams can leave people suddenly broke and scrambling.
Stoll also told El Khoury what she would say to Facebook if she had the chance: put measures in place so that if a scam is reported, the platform can actually review it and take it down when it’s legitimate.
That’s not an unreasonable request. It’s the minimum expectation people have when a platform hosts commerce-related posts at massive scale.
And yet El Khoury’s reporting suggests that minimum expectation is not consistently met unless outside pressure is applied.
That should make Facebook nervous, because stories like this chip away at the basic trust that keeps users on the platform.
A Problem That’s Bigger Than One Realtor
El Khoury also asked the question most viewers were probably thinking: how big is this problem in the Tampa Bay area?
The county, she reported, said it’s hard to tell because most cases go unreported, which is believable because many scam victims feel embarrassed, and many homeowners may never find out their property was used as bait.
That’s the scary part: Stoll found the listing because she was plugged into the market and someone alerted her, but plenty of ordinary homeowners might not catch it until a stranger shows up at the door thinking they rented the place.
And by then, the money is gone and the scammer is long gone too.
El Khoury’s report is a reminder that the scam isn’t always the flashy “send me gift cards” stuff people joke about; sometimes it looks like a normal rental listing, with professional photos, real descriptions, and a price that makes people’s eyes light up.
That’s why Stoll’s experience matters beyond her own stress. It shows how easy it is for scammers to weaponize legitimate work, and how slow, automated moderation can fail the exact people it should protect first.
What People Should Do Right Now
El Khoury’s story leaves two groups with clear takeaways.
For renters: verify ownership through public records, be suspicious of deals that are far below market, and treat thin social media profiles like warning labels, not minor quirks.
For homeowners and agents: periodically search your address and listing photos online, because – as Olsen warned – it may take time before you even know it’s happening.
And for Facebook, whether they admit it or not, the takeaway is even simpler: if your system can remove a fake rental within 24 hours when a reporter calls, then it can do it when a homeowner calls too, and pretending otherwise just makes the platform look careless.
El Khoury’s report delivered results, but it also exposed the uncomfortable truth behind those results: sometimes the only reliable “customer service” left on big platforms is public pressure.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
