August 12, 2026
HORNELL, NY – The Hornell Police Department reports that senior citizens here, have been taken advantage of by scammers on social media. According to Police Chief Ted Murray, the scammers are putting out online photos of apartments “to rent” and falsely claiming that the apartments are available. The way the scam works is, these “landlords” (who don’t own the properties that they are advertising) ask for the victims make a payment in advance. “We’ve seen a real uptick of these scams,” Murray tells Wlea News. “It’s happening to some of the elderly people in Hornell. These scammers are selling places which are not for sale, renting apartments that are not even on the market and this is happening on a regular basis,” Murray explained.
