SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- The AI boom started here in San Francisco just a few short years ago. Since then, it’s changed how we live, do business and also how we’re scammed. The latest victims are people looking for apartments to rent, and KRON4’s Rob Nesbitt was one of them. Here's what he wan ts you to know, so you can avoid falling prey to a similar scheme. Nesbitt, who ironically was at one time accused of being AI-generated himself, tried applying for the apartment on TikTok. SF-based Salesforce signs $5.6 billion contract with US military "I found a one-bedroom apartment that a realtor posted on their TikTok in San Francisco," Nesbitt explained. "I reached out and got a response that the apartment was available, applied and then ended up with around $2,000 stolen from my bank account." The apartment is a real place on Franklin Street in San Francisco's Cow Hollow neighborhood. Real video of the apartment was included in the listing. But the video was posted to a TikTok account supposedly belonging to realtor Nick Abraham. "I clicked on the email on the account that seemed valid with Nick’s info, headshot, his company Compass Real Estate and 12,000 followers," Nesbitt explained. "Nick emailed me back saying the apartment is available and then sent a link to the application with an application fee of $280. I paid the fee and then, the next day, woke up to more than $2,000 in charges from my checking account to something called GLF Golf Now Reservation." Nesbitt did a little more digging and found that there was a realtor named Nick Abraham. "Nick Abraham is a real person and a real estate agent for Compass in Southern California," Nesbitt said. "This TikTok profile, however, is not run by him and when I contacted the real Nick, he said this has been an issue for the last three months and that he gets as many as 10 calls a day from people scammed out of money like I had happen." Abraham spoke to KRON4 over a Zoom call about how the ongoing scam is starting to damage his professional reputation. “I did have some people that went on there and thought that I was the person who was scamming and they wrote negative reviews on my business profile for Google, gave me a one-star review," Abraham said. "I’ve never heard of these people before and then I explained to them. Luckily, they were good people and removed the review once they found out what happened." Screenshot of AI scam from TikTok. Newsom to launch independent review into TikTok following sale to Trump-aligned group So, where does AI come into play with this scam? "I noticed this was a scam on Monday when I received an email from the fake Nick saying that I was accepted for the apartment and that my move in date would be Feb. 15 and that I could go view the apartment on Feb. 10," Nesbitt explained. "I responded that that didn’t work for me, I would want to see the apartment ASAP not next month. I then got a phone call from the fake Nick and had a real conversation back and forth that ended with him saying he would check with the property manager about me viewing the apartment sooner." But something about the call didn't add up. "It felt off and the next morning is when I found the fraudulent charges and started doing some digging and found the real Nick," Nesbitt continued. "His voice was the same voice as the fake Nick I talked with, so they most likely used his voicemail to create AI-generated responses over the phone." So how were they able to steal our reporter's money? "I contacted my bank immediately, reported the fraud and the good news is the person on the phone told me that the charges should be reversed and I’ll get my money back," Nesbitt said. Nesbitt also spoke with cybersecurity expert Bezalel Eithan Raviv about how this could happen and how scammers used the info they got from the Zelle payment for the apartment application fee and other information in the application to access his account. Raviv’s advice? If you do fall victim to these types of AI scams, you need to know that it will most likely happen again. “Numbers that we have is 83% of the people that have been targeted the way that you do, 83% will be retargeted with a different scheme within the first 12 months," Raviv said. "So, ignoring the problem is just not enough here. We need to be able to face it and take action.” Raviv’s advice is that if you do fall victim to a scam is to change your email password and not just to rely on law enforcement. "I filed a police report after this happened, but in terms of finding out who these people are it’s not easy and the caseloads police are dealing with when it comes to AI complaints," Nesbitt said. It's also important to pay attention to email domains. The fake Nick Abrahams was using an email that was not an actual Compass work email. Nor should you rely on TikTok to prevent these kinds of scams. Tech billionaire sells San Francisco Pacific Heights mansion for $45 million The real Nick Abraham has reached out to TikTok and made them aware that an unauthorized profile is impersonating him. He says that several users have reported the profile using their own accounts. But as of this report, the false profile is still up on the platform. KRON4 has reached out to TikTok for comment. As of 5 p.m., the social media app said the fake Nick Abraham account has been taken down and banned. ...read more read less