Jeff Deal

A central Florida woman trying to sell her home, instead had it taken over by a man who she didn’t know and who hasn’t been paying any rent. The man Charlotte Brown describes as a squatter has been in the house more than a year. She hasn’t been able to get him out and the clock is ticking because she could lose the home to foreclosure.

A central Florida driver is stuck with a $12,000 auto repair bill after a bottle of water spilled in the back seat of his SUV. “I was shocked. I was panicked to be honest with you,” said SUV owner Michael McCormick. His Hyundai SUV is just a couple years old, but the carmaker has refused to cover the repairs under warranty. His insurance company has denied coverage as well.

The U.S. Secret Service is warning transnational criminal organizations are targeting shoppers in central Florida. The Action 9 consumer investigative team rode along with federal agents as they worked with local law enforcement to try to track down hidden credit card skimming devices inside stores across Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. The skimming devices are designed to steal credit and debit card information when you swipe or insert them into point-of-sale machines at stores and gas pumps. The criminals also place them inside ATMs.

Jeff Deal Tue, April 7, 2026 at 12:05 AM GMT+2 4 min read

A 3-year-old Osceola County boy is recovering at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando after he was shot in the chest.

Jeff Deal Fri, April 17, 2026 at 12:47 AM GMT+2

Action 9 has a warning about home foreclosure scams designed to steal your money and maybe even your home.Joe Ingoglia told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal, “It was pretty concerning It was like, ‘Where did this come from? Who’s the company?’”Ingoglia said that after he received a letter in the mail telling him and his wife their home had been foreclosed on and sold right out from under them. It turned out not to be true, but the letter appears to be part of a nationwide scam.

Would-be homebuyers looking to get a great deal claim an online auction site is collecting large deposits then holding the money for months even after the company promised a refund.“A lot of people are very frustrated,” said Brij Gakhar of Winter Springs.The website Federa claims to handle online auctions, many of them on foreclosure properties. To bid you have put deposits down. Often the required deposits are $10,000 or more.

Early this year, the Better Business Bureau started to see an uptick in complaints against them.

At the time Knight Fence was ‘F’ rated by the Better Business Bureau with other complaints about him taking money