ATASCOCITA, Texas — A mother and her three small children have been told they have 48 hours to move out of the home they were renting in a subdivision in Atascocita.
Why? Because they were scammed.
On Tuesday, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office deputies told Dixenia Resendiz she was a victim of a scam by a fake landlord.
"Where am I going to put my kids?" she said.
The mother of three young children said she thought she had found the perfect home for her family, which happened just last week.
She said she found a post on Facebook that showed the home for rent. It had three bedrooms, two baths and a two-car garage.
Best of all, the rent was only $1,000 a month.
Dixenia messaged the man whom she thought was the owner. He asked her if she'd like to go take a look at the home on Thanksgiving Day.
The man said he was going to send Dixenia a code to open the lockbox for the key to get inside. The code worked when Dixenia got there, but the key was zip-tied.
The man just told her to cut it free and go inside the home.
"This is perfect for the comfort of my family," Dixenia said after touring the home.
She said she quickly signed the documents after that and paid the man $1,000 for the first month's rent, $800 for a deposit, and $200 for application fees.
The family started moving in right away, putting up the bunk beds and decorations on the walls.
Now on Tuesday night, the family is having to pack up their things once again.
She said a man showed up earlier in the day with a company called American Homes. He told Dixenia his company was the real owner of the home and they had not leased it to her.
She was told she needed to leave right away.
She told him she was calling the police and that she had spent what little she had in savings to move into the home and had no place to go.
Deputies then arrived and told her she had been scammed.
Dixenia was told there was no chance of her getting her money back and that she needed to go report the fraud to the bank.
"Very sad for my kids," she said.
It will not be the Christmas this family had in mind.
Now, she must file a report so deputies can hopefully locate the scammer.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Dixenia and her family move and find a new place.