Scam artists pose as potential tenants or landlords everyday on
many different websites and other publications. Why? Because it works.
Knowledge is your best defense. Please read as much information
as possible about these scams so you don't become a victim.
For Tenants
Meeting Landlords in person, and viewing INSIDE the property will
avoid many scams, but NOT ALL. Scammers are using addresses which
match the pictures they post, and are asking for money or deposits
before you are able to meet them or view inside the property. They
often get these pictures from other rental websites, builders websites,
or anywhere on the internet, and masquerade as if they are the property
owner/landlord. DON'T BE FOOLED! If you're serious about the property,
MEET THE LANDLORD IN PERSON AND VIEW THE INSIDE OF THE PROPERTY. After
making sure the property exists, and viewing INSIDE the property,
verify that the landlord or property manager is who they claim
to be! In some cases the property will still not belong to the
person you're meeting, even when viewing inside. (view the Citytv
News rent scam article here)
Don't send money for keys. Scammers will often ask you to
send a deposit to receive the keys or reserve the property for you.
Again, you want to meet them at the property in person, view the INSIDE
of the property, and confirm their identity before exchanging any
money. Scammers may say they are in another country etc, and can only
communicate by email. Often they will spend much time trying to gain
your trust with lengthy emails. Use common sense here, if you send
money to a stranger, your money will likely be gone forever and you
will never reach them again.
Watch out for rental pricing that's too good to be true, as it
usually is. In some cases we have seen properties advertised well
below market value. Be very careful when you see an ad which looks
to good to be true. Scammers often want to scam as many people as
possible in a short period of time, so having rates below market makes
this easier. Again viewing the property INSIDE, meeting the landlord
face to face, and verifying their identity will help to verify the
authenticity of these ads.
Be careful of ads posted on free classified ad sites. When
ads can be posted for free, with only an anonymous email address,
it makes it very easy for scammers to post ads. Sites that require
a credit card payment to post ads, are usually better, however, scammers
do also pay to post ads with bogus credit cards, so fraudulent ads
do exist on all sites.
Be very suspicious if the Landlord wants cash up front. There
have been cases where scammers will take numerous cash deposits from
potential tenants on a property which they may have also rented with
a false identity.
Never provide personal information over the internet. (social
insurance number, credit card numbers etc)
For Landlords
Know that Cashier's Checks, Money Orders, Certified Checks, as
well as Personal Checks can be forged. Always wait for funds to clear
before you return money or rent your property. In many cases even
the banks are fooled by these forged documents, until they try to
collect the funds.
Meeting potential tenants in person will avoid many scams.
Scammers will often send overpayments, and ask you to send refunds
back to them. DO NOT REFUND OVERPAYMENTS! You're dealing with
professional scammers, and they know what they're doing. Although
money orders or wire transfers can appear to be real, once you have
issued a refund your bank can reverse the original deposit when it's
found to be fake. This is one of the more common scams. It can take
weeks to find out the original deposit is a fake, in some cases as
long as 8 weeks depending on remote location where the payment was
made from.
Watch out for tenants in another country going into great detail
about their personal lives, financial situation etc. in long emails,
trying to build your trust and become friendly. Some may attempt to
ease your suspicions by letting you know they are a professional in
their country, Doctor, Scientist, etc.
When posting your ads online, hide the exact address of the property.
Give potential tenants the address on the phone only after you have
spoken with them and only if they sound legitimate. Showing this information
makes it easier for scammers to post alternate ads of your property
on other classified ad sites. Scammers will often take your ad information,
set up a different email address, for example xxxx@hotmail.com (where
xxxx matches the name in your ad), in hopes that some tenants will
communicate only by email with them on that specific ad.
For Tenants and Landlords
Be suspicious of Tenants or Landlords who are only using anonymous
email accounts from yahoo, hotmail, gmail etc. who don't want to provide
a phone number. When a phone number is provided, try to verify
that the phone number matches the tenants or landlords story. With
internet based telephones (IP phones), scammers can be in another
country and provide you with a number that appears to be local.
Don't think this is not happening in your area. Some tenants/landlords
think these scams are not taking place in your local area, but this
is not true. This is happening in all cities and towns throughout
Canada, and throughout Alberta, so please be aware!
Report any suspicious listings to us immediately. If you think
you have been in touch with a potential scammer, please do your part
and report this activity to us at scams@onlinehomesearch.ca
with as much information as possible.
Onlinehomesearch.ca Inc. is not involved in any transactions and
does not offer any protection against fraud. If you receive any correspondence
mentioning such protection, these are also scams.
You may also view more information on common scams, or report a scam
at www.phonebusters.com
Phonebusters.com is a national anti-fraud call centre jointly operated
by the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Phonebusters is the central agency in Canada that collects information
on telemarketing advanced fee fraud letters (Nigerian letters) and
identity theft complaints. Information is disseminated to the appropriate
law enforcement agencies.
Links to articles of interest:
Sept 27, 2007 CTV News Calgary
Title:
Rental scam targets Calgarians
November 22, 2007 Citytv Calgary
Title:
Your City's Mike McCourt with a rent scam that's nailed a lot of innocent
people
(this link also contains a short video)
November 30, 2007 CTV News Calgary
Title:
Rental scam
View this interesting newscast on YouTube about rental frauds being
advertised in newspapers. This is a US news channel, but is a good
example of the same concepts being used in Canada.
Title:
Consumer Investigation: Rental Fraud"
THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES AND
AWARENESS, AND IS NOT INTENDED TO BE A COMPLETE LIST OF FRAUDS TAKING
PLACE IN YOUR AREA.