Christian Anderson charged with posing as fake real estate agent in Mastic rental scam, police say

A Shirley man has been arrested for posing as a real estate agent and scamming potential renters out of thousands of dollars in deposits on homes in the Mastic area, Suffolk police said.

Christian Anderson, 24, who was using the alias Benjamin Conyers, was arrested Thursday at 11 p.m. at his home, police said.

From January to March, Anderson found rental properties online and relisted them on a social media website, claiming he was the listing agent, police said in a news release.

Anderson then arranged meetings with victims in bank parking lots in Shirley and Center Moriches, giving them fake residential agreements and keys in exchange for cash deposits, police said.

When they arrived at the rental property, the victims found their key did not work or occupants were already in the home. Upon receiving the money from the victims, Anderson then blocked or deleted his social media account and stopped communicating with victims, police said.

Anderson was charged with third- and fourth-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheme to defraud.

He was held overnight at the Sixth Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday at First District Court in Central Islip.

Detectives are asking anyone who believes they might have been scammed to contact the Seventh Squad detectives at 631-852-8752.