Rental Scam – To Good to be True

by Sheldon Johnston and Sara MacLennan on 19. Feb, 2010 in Uncategorized

When something seems to good to be true it almost always is…. Found this article this morning about a rental scam in Edmonton. The scammer has taken an MLS® listing, and posted it as a rental on Craigslist for way less than similar homes are renting for. They set up a fake email account using the listing agent's name and when you contact them about the home the scammer explains that he's moved to England. After filling out a brief application he'll ask you to send him a $1000 deposit by Western Union and you'll receive the keys the next day. Hmmmmm…..sound a little fishy? Here's the kicker… because the scammer is in England, there is nothing the Edmonton police can do about it!

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3 Responses to “Rental Scam – To Good to be True”

  1. mc 19. Feb, 2010 at 12:06 pm #

    Same thing with cars, and even pets nowadays. If you can’t go and see the item you are interested in, run run run away. You can also report scams you see online to http://www.recol.ca which stands for Reporting Economic Crime Online, it is a Web-based centre which gives Canadians a simple way to report fraud online. They usually have very interesting responses when you send an email to the scammer saying that they have been reported to the authorities. The scammers are not in England, they can be anywhere in the world, and probably some are even still in Canada.

  2. Roadkill 19. Feb, 2010 at 1:02 pm #

    Or simply call it a $1000 lesson in life to be more careful with your transactions. I bought Olympic tickets privately (in person) knowing that the seller could re-sell the same tickets through the website at anytime before the event. I am willing to take that chance but if my ticket buzzes bad when it’s scanned at the door – I am prepared to get burnt. It’s different to be out 100 bucks over several thousand. I would exercise my caution proportional to dollars spent. I still shake my head though when someone buys a car from a seller in another country for 1/5 of the retail value and expects it to be shipped to them. Expensive lessons in life – but people will learn somehow. Reporting it to authorities doesn’t hurt too.

  3. Ken 19. Feb, 2010 at 1:48 pm #

    I replied to an ad for a power boat on Craigslist and it was a similar scam. I received an email response from a “U.S. Marine Officer” who was stationed in “Iraq”. The scammer stated the boat was in “Montana” and he would make all the arrangements to ship it once he received a “deposit”. I am guessing that 10% of all ads on the free classified sites are scammers. Buying any sort of merchandise privately is a huge risk.