A PHONY property developer has disappeared with over $400,000 after aspiring homeowners expecting to receive lavish family homes were conned.

Nancy Turner and Alexander Alonso thought their dream getaway homes were locked in when they put down thousands in payments for townhouses in Davie, Florida – about 30 minutes west of Fort Lauderdale.

“We wanted to have somewhere to come in the wintertime when it gets cold,” Turner told local news station WSVN.

“I like that it was a new build, and it had square footage with the pool on the back,” Turner said about the listing for townhouses by Omni Development and Consulting in Fort Lauderdale.

In 2022, Turner signed a contract and put a down payment of $320,000 to buy two units, one for her and one for her daughter.

Meanwhile, Alonso saw an ad by Omni Development for a home in Miramar – about 30 minutes north of Miami – and put down $64,000 from his life savings for the property.

“Oh, they were modern looking. Three-story townhomes, family-oriented,” Alonso told the outlet.

However, as the days went by, the pair noticed no traction was being made by the company or its owner, who identified himself to Turner as Tyler Jones.

When they both asked for their down payments back, they were unsuccessful.

“They don’t respond or anything anymore. Not to emails, Not to texts, nothing,” Alonso said.

When they contacted local police departments, they were told most cases like these aren’t criminal and that they should file a lawsuit against the developer.

However, Turner and Alonso weren’t the only people contacting Davie Police about Omni Development.

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Six more people, including three in Fort Lauderdale, who fell victim to the phony developer, told detectives they put down large deposits to buy a townhouse, according to WSVN.

“The fact that there have been such a great amount of time with no work being done whatsoever,” Davie police officer Peter Patton told the outlet.

“The town has no permits pulled or anything like that. So that’s what brought it to a level of suspicion high enough for us to conduct an investigation into it.”

What investigators learned was shocking as the Davie address on the ad where the homes were reportedly being built didn’t exist.

Omni Development did not own the property after a $250,000 check to finalize the deal bounced.

The man who identified himself to Turner as Tayler Jones was actually Dennis Wendall Jones, who was recently arrested for domestic violence.

Jones was also serving a 10-year probation sentence for grand theft after taking people’s money from another unrelated issue.

WSVN spoke to Jones, who claimed he would return Turner’s money in October but never did.

“Horrified. Just horrified. Upset,” Turner told the outlet.

Authorities have since identified 11 people who were victims of Omni Development.

“See if there’s any way to get the money back and then see what criminal charges will apply in the future,” Patton said.

Jones, who appeared in court on November 14 on an unrelated case, was arrested after Davie police had issued an arrest warrant for him on grand theft charges.

He was charged with grand theft of over $100,000, money laundering, and violation of probation.

If convicted, Jones faces 30 years in prison.

Turner and Alonso have yet to receive their money back.