Family of squatters move into Maryland home after it sold, change locks after paying for scheme on social media

Dealing with squatters in rentals and vacant homes has become more of an issue than ever before.Exacerbating the issue are fraudsters on social media who are now allegedly targeting vulnerable people in need of housing and intentionally pointing them in the direction of homes that are recently unoccupied—for a small fee, of course. Case in point: A local news outlet out of Maryland shared the story of Mike Haskell, the owner of a house in Windsor Mill, MD.After spending tens of thousands renovating the four-bedroom, two-bath home, Haskell was 24-hours away from finalizing a sale when he got an unfortunate call. By the next morning, he’d learned that an unknown family of four had been living on the property for at least a week—without his permission. Speaking with Spotlight on Maryland, Haskell explained that his buyer actually alerted him to the squatters.

They had spotted a U-Haul parked outside the property and called Haskell to see what was up.  “They thought it was maybe being unstaged for advertising, and I said, ‘No, that was done way earlier.There should be nobody there,’” Haskell said.Turns out, the situation had become quite serious.

According to Haskell, he was forced to call the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD) after he and his colleagues noticed that the locks on the property had been changed, and the sale sign had been removed from the front yard.The police treated the initial call as a “civil matter,” according to documents obtained by Spotlight on Maryland.No official charges or arrests were made, and the squatters were not removed. When the local outlet came to check in on the situation themselves with Haskell, they approached the family, who confessed to Spotlight that they were “unlawfully occupying Haskell’s property and recognized that their presence allegedly interfered with an active sale to prospective buyers.”In speaking with the outlet, a man and a woman explained how they found the home thr...