MONTREAL – Right from the start, it seemed a bit too good to be true.
A modern, fully-equipped apartment with two big bedrooms, hardwood floors, even a wireless Internet connection, all for a mere $550 a month.
Still, when Eric Lachance spotted the rental advertisement on popular classified website Craigslist in early 2009, he was intrigued.
"I figured it might be a scam," said Lachance, a technical writer for a software company who has lived in Montreal for nine years. "But I was curious."
To test his theory, Lachance, 29, actually responded to the ad, eventually speaking to the supposed landlord over the phone and sending him some basic personal information. He stopped short, however, of wiring the first month’s rent to the man’s "secretary" in Lagos. And he didn’t call the cops when it became obvious the whole thing was a sham.
"It was kind of an experiment," Lachance explained. "Every sign of a scam was there, but for someone who is a new renter and isn’t from Quebec and aware of all the laws, it could have been deceiving."
Classified sites like Craigslist and Kijiji have become modern hunting grounds for fraudsters all over the globe looking to take advantage of renters like Lachance. The websites are actively monitored for possible scams by the companies that own them, but it can be extremely difficult to police the thousands of new ads that appear each day. Often, it’s up to the user to flag inappropriate or suspicious postings, and hundreds slip through the cracks.
"It’s an open marketplace," Lachance said. "The sites are free, and there’s no direct verification of the information."
The most transparent cons are relatively easy to spot. Telltale signs include long, rambling emails from supposed "landlords" halfway around the world, descriptions and photos of impossibly-cheap luxury apartments and demands for payment to be wired overseas as soon as possible. But as renters become wise to these more traditional schemes, the fraudsters are adapting too – coming up with increasingly devious ways to separate people from their money.
According to Jonathan Elston, a coordinator with the Off-Campus Housing & Job Bank (HOJO) at Concordia University, even the savviest renters can get caught.
"There are a few new scams out there," Elston explained. "For example, people will see pictures of an apartment, fill out an online application and make a small deposit online. Then they get there and it’s a total disaster. … But in Quebec, when you fill out a lease application and make a deposit, it may oblige you to take that apartment."
According to Elston, people may inadvertently let their guard down at times of the year when the rental market is unusually tight and space is at a premium – like at the beginning of a new university semester.
"We do have a lot of students looking for housing right now and in January," he said. "These are the times when there’s a greater need for people to know about these issues, because there’s a greater potential for something to happen."
And it’s not just apartment hunters who can be taken for a ride. People looking to sublet their current space can also become victims. For example, an out-of-town scammer may respond to a sublet advertisement and then send a bad cheque to cover the first month’s rent, explained Neil Schwartzman, Executive Director of the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email and an expert in online fraud. Then the scammer will pull out of the deal, asking for a cheque reimbursing them their money. By the time the subletter realizes the original cheque has bounced, the "refund" money is long gone.
"There are certainly recorded instances of people falling for these kinds of things," Schwartzman said. "(Scammers) certainly play on students’ naivete. Perhaps it’s their first apartment. Some kids have parents’ money, but a lot of kids don’t."
Montreal police are aware of online rental scams, said police spokesperson Melanie Lajoie, but the fraud squad has only one case in its records involving a Montreal resident falling prey to this type of crime.
That doesn’t surprise Schwartzman.
"I’ve tried reporting some of these cases to the police and they don’t seem particularly concerned," he said. "And ultimately, this is a hugely embarrassing thing to have happen to you … oftentimes, for $1,000 or $500, it’s not worth the hassle (of reporting it)."
In an effort to educate renters and subletters alike, Elston said HOJO provides legal information for tenants at its offices and has devoted a special section of its website to online fraud.
His number-one piece of advice? Don’t sign anything or hand over a dime until you’ve actually stood in the space you’re hoping to rent.
"You can still shop, check out photos, set up an appointment from outside of province or outside of Canada, but eventually, you need to see a rental in person."
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