A Long Island man was arrested after scamming several victims out of thousands of dollars, leading them to believe they were putting deposits on rental homes along the coast — then taking off with the money.

Christian Anderson was nabbed late Thursday night by police at his home on Hay Road in Shirley, and was charged with grand larceny, Suffolk County police said Friday. His scheme involved finding rental properties in the Mastic and Mastic Beach area online and then relisting them on social media, claiming he was the realtor.

Using the alias Benjamin Conyers, Anderson ran the scam from January to March earlier in 2023, police said. After getting contacted online, he would arrange meetings with his targets in bank parking lots in Shirley and Center Moriches, allegedly giving them phony residential agreements and keys in exchange for cash deposits.

After getting to their supposed rental property, the victims of his fraud would find the keys to the homes didn't work, or there were already occupants inside the home at the time. But when they tried to contact Anderson, they found he had blocked them or deleted his social media account, according to police. Anderson would cut off all communication with his victims, law enforcement said.

Attorney information for Anderson, a non-licensed realtor, was not immediately available. He was scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

Anyone who believes they might have also been victimized by Anderson's alleged scam is asked to contact Suffolk County detectives.