INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis man is seeking justice after a scammer posing as an Indianapolis Housing Agency employee swooped in and stole thousands of dollars as part of a housing scam.

Elmer Satterfield is a network engineer from Michigan who moved to Indianapolis in October.

Satterfield says he worked with the IHA to get his Section 8 housing voucher and other benefits moved from Michigan, and had been in contact with an IHA case worker for months.

So, when a scammer emailed him posing as the real specialist he spoke with throughout the year, he wasn’t concerned.

“I’m getting excited because I think I’m fitting to move into a home,” he said.

The email sender had the same name, Satterfield told I-Team 8, and used similar language to his real case worker. They told him he’d been approved for housing in Indianapolis – all he had to do was pay a deposit.

“I had rushed to get $900 and I sent it to them,” he said. “After that, we had kept communicating (through email) back and forth.”

But soon, cracks began to show in the scammer’s correspondence when they began asking for additional fees and deposits.

Satterfield said, “He sent me back an email saying, ‘There was a portion fee.’ I was like, ‘Okay, portion fee.’ The landlord and I communicated – or who I thought was the landlord – the landlord said, ‘Yeah, there’s a portion fee. You have to pay that before I give you your keys.’”

Satterfield continued to send the scammer money, hopeful that the deposits were going toward his new home. 

The final red flag waved when on the day of the showing, the scammer asked Satterfield to buy them an Apple gift card.

After this, he approached the IHA directly for answers – and met with the real case worker he thought he’d been speaking with over the last month.

“I said, ‘You’ve been emailing me.’ He said, ‘Elmer, I haven’t emailed you since April,’” Satterfield said. “I show him the emails and he’s like, ‘Let me show you something.’ And he went and he clicked on the (email). He said, ‘You see that?’ (The scammer) had his whole name. Then at the end, they had ‘@gmail.’ I said, ‘You know what? I didn’t see that.’”

His case worker told Satterfield he was the fifth victim that month. Satterfield says his case worker blamed the scam on a data breach IHA faced earlier this year.

In the end, the scammer made out with $1,600. Satterfield filed a fraud report through Chime, which was denied. Satterfield says this scam has set him back greatly and wants to see action taken.  

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development seized control of the IHA in April after identifying dysfunction and poor living conditions within the system.

I-Team 8 asked HUD for information on the scams, and they provided this in a statement:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the City of Indianapolis are aware of recent reports concerning scams in Indianapolis where individuals posing as employees of the Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) have fraudulently obtained money from individuals seeking housing assistance. 

HUD and the City urge the public to be vigilant and cautious when dealing with individuals claiming to represent housing agencies or related services. 

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud or have encountered suspicious activity related to housing assistance, please report it immediately to local law enforcement and to HUD’s Office of Inspector General at 1-800-347-3735 or online at www.hudoig.gov/report-fraud. 

HUD and the City remain committed to ensuring that all individuals seeking housing assistance are protected from fraudulent activities and scams. We encourage the public to verify the legitimacy of any communication or request for payment regarding housing services and to contact local authorities or HUD with any concerns. 

Ashlee Strong, Public Affairs Officer, Great Lakes Region of HUD