Police Warn Of The Rental Scam

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Windsor Police are sending out a warning about the “Rental Scam”.

Police say that they were contacted by a complainant who wanted to make them aware that the scam is present in our community.

In this particular case, the complainant advertised that she was looking for an apartment and the person responded to her ad. The complainant did the necessary background research and soon discovered she was communicating with a scammer who was posing as a landlord. Fortunately, she learned it was fraudulent before any money or personal information was exchanged.

The rental scam more frequently involves fraudulent advertisements placed on Kijiji or other ad posting websites with houses or apartments for rent. The scammers attempt to victimize people interested in renting property by having them send deposits before viewing the actually property.

The person posing as a “landlord” often tries to steer the conversation away from the website to private email or phone conversations very quickly. Once they have you interested in the property they try to get first and last month’s rent or some sort of security payment. They often provide excuses as to why they are unable to show the property, such as, they live or work out of town. The victims are asked to send a money or email transfer and they explain that the keys will be sent or left at the house. There are some cases across the province where the tenant arrives at the residence and learns that they were victim to a scam.

Police would like to remind tenants seeking out property to be vigilant, do some research and recognize the warning signs before sending money or personal information to someone you haven’t met. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.