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A woman says she joined her Home Owners Association (HOA) “as a joke.” Now, she suspects there’s some foul play going on.
In a series of videos posted to her TikTok account, user Ashley (@legallyswiftie13) lays out how she came to suspect her HOA of embezzling money. And she shares what she plans to do about it.
Her first video officially accusing the HOA of embezzlement was posted in the past week. However, followers of Ashley know that her suspicions have been raised for a while now. In a comment under one of her videos about joining the HOA posted in late April, Ashley wrote, “All I’m gonna say is that we were about to pay $70k for pool furniture. Then I found the same furniture for $14k. Now we aren’t buying any furniture?”
Now, she suspects that the pool furniture issue wasn’t a one-off. And she’s got the receipts to back it up.
How Did This Woman Allegedly Discover Her HOA Was Embezzling Money?
In one video, Ashley says that she was looking through cleaning receipts as part of her role on the HOA board, and something was “not adding up.” This video currently has over 265,000 views.
“We’re ordering enough cleaning supplies to supply an NFL stadium for an entire season,” Ashley says. “This is weird. Why are we spending like $18,000 a month on cleaning supplies? It’s a condo!”
For context, Ashley notes in other videos that her building has approximately 250 units and is comparable to a hotel. That means shared spaces are limited to areas like the lobby and the communal gym.
Confused, Ashley says she “called out” her fellow HOA members at a recent meeting. She says they appeared eager to move on from the issue.
“They were totally, like, dismissing it,” she recalls. She plays snippets of the meeting as evidence. Then, she says, “They’re like, ‘Yeah, so things are weird, but let’s just move forward.’”
Even after Ashley directly said the word “embezzlement,” she says the fellow HOA members appeared like they wanted to move past the issue. And Ashley notes that’s something that didn’t sit right with her.
“We’re talking, like, tens of thousands—like, maybe six figures of embezzlement,” Ashley claims. “It’s really bad. Someone’s going to prison.”
The Plot Thickens
Across several follow-up videos, Ashley offers viewers updates on her suspicions.
First, she shows an email thread between her and other members of the HOA in which several members encourage her to move on from the issue. She responds, in part, “Why would we maintain a relationship with a vendor who has ripped us off by thousands and thousands
of dollars?” She also requested PDF copies of the receipts for the HOA’s cleaning services.
When those receipts arrived, she notes there were more questions than answers.
“She sends me the cleaning receipts. And I see that we spent $6,200 on cleaning supplies in a month. This is just for, like, the lobby, not for the whole building or anything,” Ashley says in a follow-up. “Why did we order 18,000 paper towels in the … last three months? I couldn’t tell you.”
She says she also suspects the invoices are edited. Regardless, she decided to reach out to her friend’s mom, who is a “sales rep manager for a company that supplies cleaning supplies.” When told the details of the building and the items that were required to clean it, she sent Ashley a quote of “less than $500.”
“So why did we spend $6,200 for cleaning supplies worth less than $500?” Ashley asks.
While Ashley tried reporting the issue to the non-emergency police line in Atlanta, she says they seemed uninterested.
This did not deter Ashley. Subsequent videos have her going through invoices line-by-line and questioning the high charges. In one video, she shows she was given an invoice upon which the number of each item ordered has been added by hand. After making a similar order from Staples Business—which Ashley notes is gratuitous given the relatively small space for which the cleaning supplies were ordered—the total cost is several thousand dollars less than what her HOA was charged.
“We don’t even have the storage space to store all of these cleaning supplies,” she explains. “So even if this was the correct quantity, I guarantee you we are not getting all this stuff. There’s no place to store it.”
Among the more questionable parts of the order are “3,500 bags to dispose of feminine hygiene products,” “1,600 rolls of toilet paper,” and “36,000 [rolls of] paper towels”—all for a single month.
“Even if we were supplying an NFL stadium in this building… all of these cleaning supplies, it’s $3,716.82. Yet, they billed us $6,200,” she says, comparing the invoice to the final cost.
How Common Is Embezzlement In HOAs?
If it’s true that something is amiss with Ashley’s HOA’s books, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that an HOA has been accused of such behavior.
In 2015, four individuals were convicted in relation to a scheme involving HOAs in which they would use straw purchases to get on the board of an HOA and then proceed to funnel funds from the HOA to services from which they would benefit.
One Florida HOA, which was in charge of overseeing 40 communities and over 6,500 units, was also accused of stealing over $1 million and diverting the money for personal use among people on the HOA board and their associates.
If one suspects HOA fraud, they should gather as much documentation as possible, bring their concerns to the HOA, and request an investigation. If this fails, they should consult an attorney and make plans to take legal action against the HOA.
@legallyswiftie13 I bet my neighbor drama is more insane than your neighbor drama #neighbors #crimetok
Commenters Have HOA Horror Stories
In the comments section of Ashley’s videos, users shared their own negative experiences with HOAs.
“An hoa in my city got sued by the residents because fees were going up and there was no activity to show. Ppl were being foreclosed on because they couldn’t pay the high dues. Turns out the hoa board was keeping $ for themselves,” wrote a user. “The residents won.”
“I went to an HOA meeting for my aunt one time and we also caught them embezzling!!! The maintenance crew was working with the HOA board,” offered another.
“Something needs to be done abt HOA’s! They’re not regulated and have way too many rights!” exclaimed a third. “The only thing you can do is sue them. It’s crazy!”
BroBible reached out to Ashley via TikTok direct message and comment.