Description

Greetings, I am a victim of being scammed by this instagram page with over 67,000 followers @thebigapplecloser. I have followed the instructions of contacting their URL link, and it all turned out to be a lie. They have a chain of other instagram pages they go by such as @nycpropertyhunt, @blyapartmentfindernyc, @__city_scape_homes_nyc__, @femmerentalsny, and @realapartmentsnyc. These pages are ALL SCAMS. I have discovered the actual official realtor who goes by Mike Bussey who is the founder and CEO of Real NYC Apartments. His Instagram page is @realnycapartments with 47.5k followers. That is a real page. I reached out on telegram as @thebigapplecloser page automatically links you directly to and noticed a listing that caught my attention. I inquired about it as the bio states The bio description for @thebigapplecloser on telegram: "LivingwithJoeNYC , His assistant would handle it from here. •| Buyers | Renters | Sellers | Investors | •Licensed in NY & CT & NJ Let’s find your perfect home ?? •DM : @mikaeljohn New York Living Solutions Team at Keller Williams NYC" I was conversing with the contact named in Telegram as "Mikael Johnson"/ “Mikael John” which is the claimed assistant for "Jensen Bselis" on Instagram as "@thebigapplecloser" and he informed me that a $350 application fee was required. I waited some time, until another listing caught my eye and when I inquired about it, they stated it was still available which confused me a bit because that listing was posted on their telegram in August. It is now March. Nonetheless, I trusted I could go along with securing the apartment being that the prices were low, and they had thousands of followers. Once I sent the money, my bank temporarily froze my account and alarmed me not to send anything else. They called me and my mother. They warned me that a number of complaints have been claimed with the number I was sending money to, to secure the application fee. As I was shocked to hear this, I notified the contact on telegram who goes under the name of "Mikael Johnson”/ “Mikael John” and urged him that if there's a more secure and solid official way for me to send my payment that I would prefer thst. He insisted they only approve payments with Zelle,Cash App, Apple Pay or Venmo. I asked if I could contact someone directly from their website. They sent me the link, the link is still active here. I kept googling the company, and I did see an address which drew me in to the agreement. http://skywardrealestatekw.com I was alarmed by this as I noticed they had realtors, but for some reason I couldn't find any listings at the time. I spoke to a live agent and they knew my name right away. I informed them of the situation of not being comfortable with sending money for an application fee, because I've been scammed before this same way and they reassured me that this wouldn't happen. They later sent me a different number to proceed with Apple Pay. I waited some time, then contacted the number on Instagram to prove they were aware that I wanted to make a transaction and that the "assistant realtor" on telegram was someone legitimate. I didn't hear anything and still havent on iMessage. I contact through WhatsApp. They respond and ask me which listing I was inquiring about and that I can proceed. I then proceeded with the number given to me on the website to process the transaction. This time, I had no issues. I was looking forward to viewing the listing. I asked if I would receive. receipt and a confirmation email. They reassured me I would, and I did. I read the description about their refund policy, but something was still off.The document felt like a conversational agreement versus an official document. Also, the address was still not provided.I asked about the address and was advised I would not know until it was closer to the scheduled viewing date. However, I have not signed anything because I wanted to ensure this was a real listing, where I enter the viewing address and I'm able to make a decision once I view the apartment, not before. The telegram contact reminded me I have the Instant Rental Package, where i can pay in advance before my move in date, which was a red flag for me. I refused to send anything else, until I had an address. Even after I sent the application fee of $350.00, the impersonator refused to inform me about the address, despite sharing that I was not open to sending anything else because I've been scammed. I let them know I would like to wait closer to the date if I were to send anything, and if they can let me know in time for me to confirm with my job, that way I don't miss the opportunity I would appreciate it. Then, the impersonator slipped up and said, he can't change my scheduled date. I asked him, why couldn't I confirm my own scheduled date in case I'm not able to make it? That's inconvenient, especially if I need to prepare to come to the city on a day that I work. Their responses started to become vague and I decided to dig deeper on my research. This person refused to send me the address. As I did more research, I found a link that someone was also scammed by the same people. I also learned that maybe if I search "Mikael Johns" I'll find the actual company he works for. It turned out the telegram contact is indeed a fake, because I received an official email from Mikael John's through his Compass account, that he is not affiliated with the impersonator on Instagram. I was shocked. Someone has submitted a claim on BBB.com, and luckily I was able to find this page, before deciding to send any more money for their fake "Instant Rent Package." Here is the link below. https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam/930951 Another victim has gone through the same situation, as her story matched mine. A lot of my friends follow this @thebigapplecloser page as they do have a lot of followers with their comments turned off, for no one to get the reassurance they need about this business being legitimate and I would hate for anyone else or any one of my friends to go through what I did and worse. I’m glad I was able to see it in time, before I sent anything else. I then even googled the listing of the apartment I was looking for, in hopes that maybe an actual realty has it available. I did find it somewhere else, with the address in the description on another scam page! I noticed they both have their followers contacting “Skyward Realty.” I did google the company, and it looks like  Keller Williams has an actual building in Brooklyn, New York. However, if I decided to visit one day, I would want to ensure that the listing is available and that I’m not wasting my time. Eventually, I kept searching and it led me to the actual page through TikTok where the official listings were posted under @realnycapartments on TikTok. That is the same name that is used on their Instagram page as well. I submitted a form as advised to inquire about the listings hence the one I was interested in to see if the price remained. This was the text from “Mike” the official realtor of the official listings that pages like @thebigapplecloser and @realapartmentsnyc that I’ve come across have been stealing from! “Hey, this is Mike from Real NYC Apartments. The account “Real Apartments NYC” is a scam account that isn’t affiliated with me. They steal my videos and change the prices in order to scam people out of “application fees”. The cheapest apartment I’ve ever posted was ~$3k/month for a studio. I’d recommend checking out StreetEasy, it’s much more legitimate.” I learned that the listing that I was interested in was not being sold for $1500, it was being sold for $12,000 monthly! I would suggest permanently removing all the accounts they’re affiliated with. I have included all necessary attachments regarding this scam as this would be considered “Intellectual Property Violation”, “False Information, and “Misleading or Possible Scam.” PLEASE remove these accounts. They are putting their followers and people’s lives at risk. They hack peoples’s with large following and steal information and identity from legit businesses. Please let me know if you need any additional information from me. These pages need to be gone. PLEASE ADVISE.