Couple who allegedly scammed woman out of rental home ordered to pay her $120,000

BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County judge ordered a pair of alleged scammers to pay a six-figure judgment to a victim.

Megan Llewallyn took the couple who she says tricked her out of thousands of dollars to court and won.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray first reported on what happened to Llewallyn in early March, when she was facing eviction from a Barrow County home she had just moved into.

It turned out the person who rented her the house and took her deposit and rent payments, was not the actual owner.

“You don’t know which way to turn,” Llewallyn told Gray at the time.

“It’s like fishing. They are going to go from house to house until they get somebody that bites. When they do, they are going to take as much money from them as they can,” Llewallyn’s attorney Jeffrey Jackson told Gray.

But Llewallyn fought back in court. She filed a civil lawsuit against the couple who she alleged rented her the home.

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On May 28, a Gwinnett County judge issued a decision ordering that Ibrahim Ali and Shaheda Mohammed pay more than $120,000 in damages.

“Especially in the times everyone is in, why would you want to scam someone out of so much money when they worked so hard for it?” Llewallyn said.

After our original story aired, the company that did own the home, Tricon Residential, agreed to cancel the eviction and sign Llewallyn to a real lease.

Llewallyn’s attorney says the six-figure judgment sends a strong message to potential scammers.

“If they want to practice these deceptive schemes, they are going to be caught. They are going to be taken to court and going to be punished for it,” Jackson said.

Gray reached out to the phone number Ibrahim Ali had called from before but got no response.

“I just hope they won’t do it anymore, but I think they will,” Llewallyn said.

Tenants say they received eviction papers after learning landlords didn’t actually own their homes It wasn’t until a sheriff’s deputy knocked on the door with an eviction notice that Megan Llewallyn had any idea there was a problem.

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