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I was scammed by a person who 'rented' us a home that was listed for sale that he didn't own.

There were a lot of red flags along the way, and I noticed them, but didn't act as we were desperate to find a home.

He gave me account and routing numbers to a Chase bank account and I was instructed to deposit the rent and deposit payment into it.

After not hearing from them for a few days after the payment, I contacted the agency who was selling the home, and confirmed it was a scam.

I don't know what to do now. Do I go to my local police station? Or do I report this to the FBI? I never met them in person, so I don't know where they live. But I would imagine that with the account numbers the police should be able to track this person down, but I don't know.

I'm not sure who the proper authorities are - but you can start with the Police, and they can help direct you to the proper authorities to report to.

As for whether or not you should do it - yes you absolutely should. You lost a ton of money, and while they might not get it back for you it is still a good idea to report it so that nobody else gets suckered by the exact same scam.

Give them all the info you have - not just the bank account info, but the listing they had and any name or information they gave you during the sale. Anything you can use to help identify them.

Unfortunately, it's unlikely they can get the money back for you, and if they were at all smart about it, they've already withdrawn and ran with the money - but the more information and reports that the authorities have, the better a chance they have at catching someone who's scamming people.

You may even get lucky and have an especially dumb scammer who still has the money in that account - it certainly doesn't hurt you in any way to report it and find out.