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Got Scammed And Have A Restitution Hearing At The End Of The Month. What Should I Claim?

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In October, I moved to California and was scammed out of $2700 worth of rent.

I fell for the scam because I thought the person running the scam would be an idiot if he were scamming me; he was definitely kind of sketchy, but he signed a lease. Sure, he made me write it up, but I thought he was just unprofessional. He wanted me to pay in cash, but that isn't the biggest red flag (my current landlord also wants cash payments), and when I said no, he let me pay him through zelle. The entire time, I took written documentation and had him send me email receipts of every exchange. The biggest thing, however, that made me think he was legit was that he gave me a tour...OF HIS ACTUAL HOUSE. He had a key. He showed me his actual license (red flag in retrospect). It wasn't just his home; his mother lived there as well, at least according to him.

Turns out, he was an idiot. He had been running this scam for a few months, and stolen a lot of money. I was an idiot, too, though. When I moved, he suddenly became unresponsive, texting me back only every few hours and giving me loads of excuses for why I wouldn't be able to move in. After two days of staying in hotels, I looked up his name and found a poorly-grammared Craigslist post declaring him a "master scanner", along with his arrest record. I went to the police, and took a weekly rental from a friend of a friend while I found a new place.

Around the beginning of the year, I found out that the DA's taken up the case. Soon after, the police went to the scammer's house to see if they could find any leads and he was just there hanging out. He got arrested, and has been incarcerated awaiting trial since. That was I wanna say in early February. Now, at the end of the month, he has a restitution hearing. The question is how much I want to claim. Aside from the price of rent, should I claim the cost of the hotels I stayed at those two nights? The weekly rental? Anything else?

Appreciate any advice. Also wondering if going to the hearing would help at all; I work that day, but if taking the day off to be there would help my case it'd be worth it. Thank you!

submitted by /u/Ekreture
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