Landlords are not the most popular group of people right now as mass layoffs leave millions without a way to pay rent and those who collect said rent keep getting caught employing gross tactics to try to squeeze it out of their tenants. This example, however, is not only particularly heinous, it is absolutely illegal and something a landlord should really know not to do.

Horrifying text exchange between a landlord and tenant. This landlord’s going to jail (and getting sued): pic.twitter.com/SwHMtFLOn0 — Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) April 19, 2020

In the screengrabbed text exchange, a landlord states outright to their tenant that they got their stimulus check from the federal government and asks them if they will be using that money to pay rent. The tenant, of course, asks the landlord how they knew the check had arrived, as not all eligible individuals have received it yet.

“Because I had to check several people today,” was the landlord’s initial answer. When pressed, they revealed that they got the information online from the IRS. Knowing that there’s only one way to check for that particular information, the tenant pressed further.

“So you accessed this information on the IRS website?” they asked. “Did you like need to use my ssn for that or something?”

“Yes,” the landlord replied. “I did this for everyone who called me today and yesterday.”

And that’s where you messed up, unnamed landlord. Because you’re only supposed to use your tenants’ social security numbers for credit checks, and using them to check on stimulus payment statuses is a gross violation of privacy and very illegal, as DoNotPay CEO Joshua Browder points out.

There’s even a warning on the IRS website about this.

After Browder’s tweet went viral following its post on Saturday, the U.S. Department of Justice contacted him and is currently investigating the situation.

Update: The Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) has reached out, has all the details and is investigating. The landlord probably hasn't even seen his texts on Twitter. https://t.co/9G2OdrCG7T — Joshua Browder (@jbrowder1) April 19, 2020

Someone’s in trouble.

Commenters have little sympathy for this landlord, but plenty of suggestions for how they should be punished and what should happen to their buildings.

I think if your landlord goes to jail under these circumstances the tenants should just all get to collectively own the building — i bless the rains down in castamere (@Chinchillazllla) April 19, 2020

Right? actual collections agencies have been nailed for far less than this — Purella de Vil 👠🍷 (@pyry) April 19, 2020

18 USC § 1030 — A Crime a Day (@CrimeADay) April 19, 2020

Plenty of lawyers would do this pro bono. I’ll help them find one. — Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) April 20, 2020

Sounds like they should get a job tbh — 10 Gays That Shook the World (@MxRevolutionary) April 19, 2020

Also numerous banks are allowing people to defer their mortgages right now, so it is entirely possible that this person committed a federal crime just because they are greedy. — ConsiderTheBees (@Wildfyrewarning) April 19, 2020

I love it how they admitted to a federal crime like it ain’t no thang. Landlords are so used to getting away with murder locally that they think the feds will give them a pass too. — PAY ME FOR MY WORK. ✡️☭🌹 (@thespinsterymc) April 19, 2020

Apparently they’ll just let anyone become a landlord.