Pest-Away Inc Crime of the Week

February 19, 2021

The “Pest-Away Inc” Crime of the Week

The Rental Property Scam is alive and well in Sarnia Lambton.  This scam has gained in popularity during the pandemic and is recently hitting us locally.

The scam is a simple one to pull off but if you are diligent, you can make sure that you will not be one of the next victims.

The scam goes like this… you’re looking for a place to live – locally or out of town so you check Kijiji and other places online for vacancies.  You find a nice looking place, maybe a house or an apartment complete with professional pictures and detailed description.

When you contact the landlord or owner, you are assured that the place is available for your move in date.  Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the place can’t be shown to you in person, but you drive by anyway and the place looks nice.

You are asked to fill out an application and maybe send a copy of your driver’s licence to make sure YOU aren’t a scammer.  Then you’re asked to send ‘first month’s rent’ or a security deposit to hold the place.  You might be told that there are several others interested so you have to act fast.

So far, the scammer has all of your personal information from the application and maybe even a security deposit to hold the place.

That could be the end of it OR the scammer continues to scam other people in other cities in the same manner – except next time he or she is posing as YOU… with your personal information!

And the cycle repeats itself.

Don’t be a victim.  Find out how to protect yourself by checking out all of the Fraud Scams and Schemes at Canadian Anti Fraud Center

 

 

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