Jul 26, 2026
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Add us on GoogleWhen you book a viewing of a home you found on a popular housing platform, you’d naturally expect the listing — and the landlord — to be legitimate. But the recent experience of a handful of unfortunate Milwaukee families demonstrates that even authentic-looking listings can be complete scams.
The residents, who are now collectively out thousands of dollars in rent payments, were duped by a woman who was out on bail for multiple charges, including, you guessed it, fraud.
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While searching for a rental unit, each of the families came across the same Zillow post for a home owned by a landlord named Quincy Jones, who, despite having no profile photo, had an “identity verified” checkmark on the site.
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The listing showed multiple photos of the three-bedroom home, which seemed perfect for the prospective tenants, and everything seemed above board.
They each booked showings with a woman who was alleged to be Quincy’s wife, Tasha.
A difficult housing market and too much trust led to ignoring warning signs
Upon meeting Tasha and touring the place, the house-hunters, some of whom spoke with Fox6 this week, determined it was “nice” and “everything [they] were looking for.” So, to secure the property, they handed over sums to cover rent and other requisite expenses, which “Tasha” insisted on receiving in cash — a first red flag.
One of the families reportedly had the locks changed on them while they were out, while others said they were simply ghosted by Tasha and co. before they’d been given keys at all (after they’d paid up, of course). One woman even tried to get her money back after realizing she’d been swindled, but was left terrified after she was allegedly shown a gun by an accomplice in Tasha’s car.
In total, four sets of victims, who found each other through Facebook, took the issue to police, but were so distraught by the crime that they did some digging themselves. They ended up uncovering the ultimate punchline of the whole affair: that not only was Tasha — whose real name is Yasmin Halimah Hameed — posing as the landlord of a property she didn’t own, but she was actually the delinquent tenant of the address, facing eviction for non-payment of rent.
Meanwhile, she’d gotten away with stealing more than $7,700 from her prey, who were perhaps a little too trusting in a time when rents across their traditionally affordable home city surged by 28% over just four years.
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Zillow said the listing was removed
For Zillow’s part, a representative of the real estate marketplace told Moneywise that the site’s internal security protocols actually flagged the listing just days after being posted, and it was subsequently removed. The account holder was also blocked at that time.
They added that, while a third-party identity-verification tool helps determine who a landlord is, it does not confirm that they own any given listing.
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“Zillow strives to provide a safe online platform, which is why we go to great lengths to monitor activity and fully inform users of the existence of internet scams and how to protect themselves,” the representative said, encouraging users to visit the company’s multiple pages on fraud awareness and avoidance.
“Our teams use a number of different tools to proactively prevent inappropriate content from publishing, and if a listing is found to be fraudulent after it’s posted, our team takes steps to remove it from our site as quickly as possible,” they continued.
In-person con feels particularly brazen
The story serves as an example of why you should always be wary of cash-only transactions, and should trust your instincts if a situation feels fishy. Along with having a suspicious aversion to secure payment forms such as money orders, “Tasha” also quickly excused questionable features, like the fact that the home was full of someone else’s belongings.
“[Victim] was told by Jones that the tenants that were in the residence were going to be moved out by 4/15/26,” reads one police report. “It appeared as if there was someone living there and they were in the process of moving out.”
Phone, email, text and online scams are prolific, but a face-to-face scenario such as this feels particularly ruthless. Along with the betrayal of any rapport felt in person — and the self-blame victims experience for trusting too much and not picking up on more cues — cash leaves less of a paper trail and is more difficult to recover than a digital exchange.
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Becky Robertson is a senior staff reporter at Moneywise and a lifelong writer. Along with more than a decade covering news at outlets like blogTO and Quill & Quire, she's attended writing residencies around the world. With 33 countries visited, she finds travel to be among her greatest inspirations.
