A Milwaukee woman is in hot water after she allegedly posed as a landlord on the reality app Zillow and scammed four families out of nearly $8,000 in cash. It turns out the woman, Yasmin Halimah Hameed, showed renters a home she didn't own and was actually being evicted from.
🇺🇸 A Milwaukee woman accused of posing as a landlord on Zillow allegedly scammed four families out of nearly $8,000 in cash.
— NewsForce (@Newsforce) July 27, 2026
Police said Yasmin Halimah Hameed showed renters a home she did not own and collected rent payments in cash.
The victims later discovered she was… pic.twitter.com/Y4uYbUt6Wp
One of the victims was reportedly threatened with a gun.
In Milwaukee, a woman posed as a landlord named Tasha Jones while on bail for fraud, scamming multiple families out of thousands of dollars for rent and deposits. The scam involved a house she did not own, with fake keys and listings on Zillow. Victims included Sierra Winters,… pic.twitter.com/oG3MBfTxQC
— @TheBakerReport (@STEVEPMP) July 22, 2026
Hameed, whose name is also spelled Yasmeen Hamid or Hameed, was arrested on nine counts of theft by fraud, bail jumping, and forgery. She was already free on bond for other crimes.
According to Fox6, Americans have lost millions to fake listings.
"American consumers have lost more than $65 million since 2020 in fake listings," said investigator Bryan Polcyn. "But this one was especially convincing because the woman who made the posts didn't just have pictures of the house, she had the keys."
Hameed reportedly posed as a landlord named Tasha Jones.
Victim Cierra Winters said the property was a dream come true. "I really thought that it was like a prayer being answered," Winters said. The man on the listing, Quincy Jones, sent Tasha Jones, his wife, to show the property.
When Winters brought a money order for the deposit, Tasha balked. "I should've knew right then and there it was probably something a little bit off, because she didn't want the money order. She was like, 'I said cash.'"
Winters paid anyway, over $2,000 for rent and deposit. On move-in day, Tasha's "assistant," a woman named Monica, dropped off a key without any grooves in it. They found an unlocked door and came back from work to find the house had had its locks changed.
They pulled the same scam with Jatan Morgan, who also came with money orders, and Jones was told by Quincy Jones they didn't accept money orders. Despite that, a man named "Jeffrey Ford" cashed them and when Morgan went to get her money back, a man in Tasha Jones' car pulled a gun on her.
"I had no idea," Morgan said. Then they went public and two more victims came forward. The women said they felt like police weren't doing much, so they took matters into their own hands and identified Tasha Jones as Hameed. Hameed was out on bond for an armed robbery at the Pfister Hotel last year. She's also charged with cashing more than $20,000 in fraudulent checks.
Bail was set for $15,000, and Hameed retained new counsel, William Sulton, President of the ACLU of Wisconsin.
Renters are reminded to check property ownership records when renting, and for properties in the city of Milwaukee, you can search the address on My Milwaukee Home, the city’s online property database.