“Can’t you just stay on someone’s sofa?” he recalls her saying.

Vaghar declined to comment for this story.

For other victims she made up stories about her mother or father having cancer or falling into a coma. Each excuse prevented her from vacating the apartment and left the renters without a place to stay.

Vaghar allegedly told another one of her victims, who would be identified only as Alison M., that she could not vacate the apartment because her mother had been hospitalized for cancer treatment.

When victims asked for their money back, Vaghar sent them checks from old bank accounts that she had already closed, often accompanied by an e-mail demanding that no further action be taken against her.

Both Christmas and Alison M. received their money eventually, though not without weeks of wrangling.

“Despite the fact that we received our money back we all still suffered a lot of stress,” Alison M. said. “I learned my lesson of trust the hard way.”

But Cory, the teacher from Malden, wasn’t so lucky: she estimated that Vaghar still owes her $900.

“I hope that she’s going to get all the help she needs, because I honestly don’t know what possesses somebody to scam so many people,” Cory said.

“It made me sick that this girl was scamming people out of their homes so that she could finance fancy clothes and parties,” said Christmas.

Vaghar was released on personal recognizance and posted a $40 bail on Friday, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office. Her pre-trial hearing is set for Feb. 18.

—Staff writer Reed Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.