Université de Montréal student Elyes Mallek is learning some life experiences outside of the classroom.
One, unfortunately, cost him $700.
The student says he paid one month’s advance rent for an apartment to an alleged fraudulent landlord only to learn he had been scammed.
“I just wanted to go for it because this was the place,” Mallek told Global News.
The student saw a listing advertised on Facebook Marketplace for a unit on Fort Street asking $700 a month.
He contacted the supposed landlord, who sent Mallek a contract — but with many words running together without any spacing.
“Even before I signed the contract, I just knew it was shady,” he said.
But Mallek decided to trust the person, hoping he was operating in good faith.
“It’s straight out just my fault because scams exist, you’re not going to stop them,” Mallek said, adding after signing the contract, the $700 was wired to the supposed landlord and he never heard back.
He signed the contract while he was in Tunisia. His friend wired the money to the landlord and he reimbursed his friend but they never heard back from the landlord and when requested a refund they was no reply. The bank of his friend told them they were scammed.
Mallek’s case isn’t isolated — there are plenty of online posts from people admitting to being scammed or calling out fake landlords.
Longueuil police issued a warning to the public last month not to fall victim to listings from landlord imposters.
The four-year-low vacancy rate for apartments in Montreal combined with high demand for student housing is leading to a spike in fraudulent apartment listings, according to the Quebec renters’ association.
“That’s the kind of story that we hear more and more in that context,” Cédric Dussault of the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) told Global News.
Dussault says potential tenants should never sign a contract before seeing an apartment in person or having someone visit the unit on behalf of a tenant.
And if the price is too good to be true, it probably is.
Those are lessons Mallek says he has learned and he won’t make the same mistake again.
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