Once you agree, they ask for the first month’s rent by e-transfer and go on to say that you can cancel the e-transfer if you don’t want the place.” Anonymous renter, Vancouver, B.C.įake listing scams are sometimes incredibly hard to spot, as scammers often get photos from real properties that are listed for sale or rent elsewhere, making them appear real until it’s too late. They claim they’re not in town, will send a relative to show you the space and say you must sign the lease immediately. “I’ve encountered a few scams, for listings at too good of a price – often properties that just got listed for sale. Unsuspecting renters may be lured into paying deposits or fees upfront, only to discover they have been swindled out of their money. In this often complex type of fraud, scammers create deceptive rental ads for properties that either do not exist or aren’t available for rent. Fake listingsīy far the most common type of rental scam is fake listings. The most common types of rental scams in Canada 1. > Recommended Reading: How To Protect Yourself From Rental Scams In Canada With the danger of rental scams more pressing than ever, renters are encouraged to be constantly vigilant and look out for common warning signs such as blurry listing photos, hidden address details, and difficulty arranging in-person viewings. This risk has only been compounded by recent factors like the significant rise in rent prices sweeping the country, as well as particularly tough competition and a lack of rental housing supply in cities like Vancouver, Toronto, and Calgary. Now that the vast majority of landlords & property managers choose to list their rental properties online, spotting fake listings has grown increasingly difficult The biggest factor behind this rise in danger is the transition to digital renting. Rental scams are a particularly dangerous type of fraud due to the sensitive nature of the personal information exchanged throughout the rental process, the large sums of money that can potentially be lost, and the increased prevalence of these scams in recent years.Īccording to the Better Business Bureau‘s 2022 Scam Tracker Risk Report, Rental Scams have become the #7 riskiest type of scam in Canada due to their high susceptibility rate and a median dollar loss of $1,600. As a result, victims not only lose their hard-earned money, but end up without a place to live as well. Once a payment is made, the scammer will generally disappear or in some cases, will actually provide a fake pair of keys. In most cases, the property being rented either doesn’t exist or isn’t owned by the supposed landlord, so it’s either difficult or impossible to arrange an in-person viewing or clarify key details about the unit. Since the scammer’s goal is ultimately to get the tenant to send over money, or details that make it possible for the scammer to take their cash, most rental scams will at some point involve a request for a deposit or payment in some form. These scams typically centre around a fake listing, or a real listing reposted and claimed by a fake landlord, with the method of defrauding tenants varying from case to case. Rental scams are a type of fraud that targets those renting property, typically with the aim of obtaining money from prospective tenants. One-Click Applications: Fill out your Renter Resume once and apply to multiple listings in just a few clicks.Verified by official documents or by mail. Quality Rentals: Browse listings that have been checked by our team.Look for the “ ID Verified” tag to identify which landlords have been pre-screened. Verified Landlords: Rent from a trusted landlord.Search apartments, condos, and homes for rent. Let us know if you have any other – Canada’s trusted house & apartment rental website Never provide critical information such as your SSN, banking information, or driver’s license numbers or pictures to such suspicious contacts.Never fill out a form from an anonymous contact, an unknown organization, or a company with no website or legitimate presence.Here are some guidelines to help you avoid scams: Our phishing detector will automatically flag forms like this and suspend the account or our staff can do it manually. Unfortunately, Online Form Builders, including Jotform, are sometimes used for identity theft and we go to great lengths to prevent this. We supply a Form Builder, and unfortunately, some parties may use the forms for wrongful purposes. We want to assure you that Jotform is not participating in this conduct. If we find out that the form is against our Terms Of Use, we will immediately suspend their account. If they're asking for an upfront payment without you physically checking on the property, this is a red flag already. Please provide the form URL/link that they asked you to fill out so we can check on it. Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support.
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