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New Jersey police have reportedly issued a warrant for the arrest of Real Brokerage agent Rob Harris, according to news reports.
Mahwah, New Jersey, is seeking to arrest Harris for allegedly swindling his ex-girlfriend out of more than $70,000 through theft and credit card fraud, according to The Real Deal.
The arrest warrant comes roughly two weeks after Harris was the subject of a civil lawsuit from his former girlfriend, Christie’s International agent Christina LaBarbiera, who met Harris on the dating app Hinge last year — leading some to dub Harris the “real life Tinder Swindler.”
Rob Harris
What could ultimately land Harris in jail is his alleged credit card fraud. According to the civil lawsuit, Harris charged LaBarbiera’s card $6,400 for Drake tickets, a charge he said she would be refunded for, which she never was.
After meeting Harris on Hinge in April, LaBarbiera was already house-hunting with the alleged swindler in Florida by the summer. Harris told her he had put in a $1.5 million offer on a property, and soon began asking her for large sums of cash, supposedly because he wanted to minimize financial strain on himself while his mortgage application was considered.
Harris took over $70,000 from LaBarbiera during that period, assuring her each time that he would pay her back and even going as far as showing her a bank account with a $720,000 balance that he said was his.
Cracks began to show in October when, right before LaBarbiera was set to return to Florida to be with Harris, he called her in a frantic state and told her he had been arrested on a traffic stop for an outstanding warrant in New Jersey.
“Do you or anyone you know have $12,106 in cash that can be deposited into an account I give you,” he texted, according to court documents. “I’ll call you the second I can but I got pulled over and they ran my stuff and apparently my restitution from the DV incident that charges were dropped, I don’t have the answer right this second but someone didn’t do their job and I’ve had an outstanding warrant for months now and had no idea I haven’t been pulled over and when I have nobody ran my stuff.”
LaBarbiera sent him the $12,106 and called off her trip to Florida, partly because Harris was due back in New Jersey to deal with the charges against him. She went to the airport to pick him up, but he never showed, claiming he was robbed at gunpoint and had his wallet and ID taken, according to coverage in The Real Deal.
Harris has yet to respond to the civil lawsuit, in court or through public communications. The Real Brokerage has declined to comment.
LaBarbiera hasn’t seen Harris again, but they have texted, according to coverage, including to warn him that she would be pursuing criminal charges.
