Drop-box scheme targets apartment-rent payments
Anna Laurao Auletta was shocked when she received a notice saying she would be evicted in three days if she didn't pay her March rent.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Anna Laurao Auletta was shocked when she received a notice saying she would be evicted in three days if she didn't pay her March rent.
Auletta knew she had slipped a money order through the slot in the rent drop box at her apartment-complex office about 9 p.m. March 5, the last day to pay without incurring a late charge.
The next day, however, a manager said he did not believe her. By the time police arrived to sort out what had happened, Auletta was crying.
"I'm not a liar," the 54-year-old mother of three and grandmother of nine told the Orlando Sentinel in Spanish last week. "I'm not a thief."
Auletta was right, police say.
She is among dozens of victims of a new twist in low-tech crime: drop-box thieves.
Apartment complexes and tenants in Orlando, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Osceola and south Orange counties reported being victimized this month.
Law-enforcement officers said they don't think all of the thefts are related.
The scheme works like this: Thieves smear glue or another sticky substance on a coat hanger or similar object. Then they reach through the slot into the drop box, which can be a couple of feet deep, and fish out rent checks and money orders.
They use acetone to wash the ink away, write in a new name and cash the money orders. Checks are less likely to be tampered with because they are harder to alter and easier to trace.
Surveillance video can be a deterrent, but it isn't an answer.
Video from The Arbors at Sendera condominiums in Kissimmee, Fla., for example, shows two men walk to the office. One peers through the window, then reaches into the drop-box slot, pulls out envelopes and hands them to his accomplice. The video isn't clear enough to see what he used as a tool.
Many of the victims live in moderate-income apartment complexes where residents are required to pay by money order or do so because they have no checking account.
"These poor folks are working hard to pay their rent, and they certainly don't deserve to be ripped off like that," said Lori Trainer, a vice president at Concord Management, which had thefts at four of its complexes.
That's certainly true of Madeline Velez, a 38-year-old motel housekeeper and single mother of three who earns $8 an hour, and her neighbor Jonathan Soto, who works at an auto shop.
"I change a lot of tires to pay my bills," the 29-year-old Soto said.
Even for those who have done nothing wrong, straightening out the situation is a hassle.
Tenants at Polo Run Apartments in Kissimmee, for instance, were asked to provide a receipt for their money orders, a stop payment or claim report and a police report. A note advised them to submit the documents within 24 hours or the complex's attorneys would begin eviction proceedings.
A Polo Run leasing agent, Akira Gutierrez, said tenants would not be required to make a second rent payment for the month and would not be charged late fees.
Trainer of Concord Management said her company lost $34,000 to the thefts at properties in Orange County, Fla., and Kissimmee, but it has insurance.
Law officers could not provide a total loss for all 11 complexes hit in south Florida. They include Reef Club and Regatta Bay in Kissimmee; Berkshire Club and Falcon Trace in Orange County; and Waterstone Apartments in Orlando, which had only one reported theft.
Kissimmee police have identified a Hialeah man and woman whose names were payees on some of the money orders, but no arrests have been made.
For at least the time being, most affected apartments are not accepting drop-box payments. Residents can pay in person or, at some complexes, online.
"Right now, we're just on hold," Gutierrez said.
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TIPS FOR RESIDENTS:
Avoid using a rent drop box.
Pay in person and get a receipt.
Pay online if your complex allows it.
Use a gel pen to make out your money order. The ink can't be washed away like ball-point ink.
Sources: Kissimmee and Lakeland, Fla., police
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