October 6th, 2013
Landlords are looking for good tenants.
Tenants are looking for good landlords.
(Of course there are some bad landlords and some bad tenants out there so let them have fun dealing with each other.)
So how can landlords and tenants who both want to meet, rent out a property, and create a mutually beneficial, respectful and lawful relationship meet?
Some people use the local newspaper. More and more landlords and tenants are using Kijiji. Others are using Craigslist.
Craiglist Scam (and Kijiji too!)
This is what makes the latest Craigslist scam even more annoying and making many good landlords upset. Landlords and tenants rely on sites like Craigslist and Kijiji to meet.
We’ve seen these types of scams all over Canada.
In fact this scam is very similar to what happened to a tenant in Newmarket and hurt a lot of people who wanted rent cottages last summer.
According to CBC News a Kamloops, B.C. landlord says she is the victim of a fraudster on the internet.
Landlord Nicky Plato says she found out this past summer someone took information from her personal online rental listing on Kijiji.ca
What Did They Do With The Information?
Wait for it…they took the information from the Kijiji ad and created a fake ad with it on Craigslist!
What a Scam!
Yes. On a regular Sunday night Plato answered her door and met a woman who showed up at her door. It was a pizza delivery man, it was a tenant expecting to move in to her property.
According to landlord Plato this ‘tenant’ believed that it was her house and she would begin renting on September 1st.
More Details Please
The woman pointed her to the Craigslist ad.
In the ad tenants were asked for a $450 deposit to be wired to, ahem, secure the lease.
Landlord Plato Fights Back
Plato decided to fight back. She contacted the scammer. She did this by posing as a renter interested in the property.
She was absolutely astonished when the scammer sent her copies of photos of the place. The photos even included one of her in her home.
Plato said: “Literally, the hair on my arms stood up. I really didn’t think that my information would be that vulnerable when I am renting online to local people in Kamloops on Kijiji. I never thought it would be that vulnerable.”
She added “He has my address, my licence plate number, my name, my picture….everything!”
She repeated ‘flagged’ the ad according to Craiglists’ policies for this type of fraud.
It hasn’t worked and the fake landlord keeps posting it.
She even called the fake landlord and demanded he stop it. He won’t.
The RCMP said there isn’t much the force can do because it appears the scammers really are in Africa.
Plato says she just wants it to stop.
To Discuss This And Other Landlord and Tenant Issues Go To the B.C. Landlord Forum
Tags: BC landlords, Craigslist, Kijiji, Landlord Forum
