Room for Rent and other rental scams
by Michelle Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:35 am
From: Erica Jennings <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 5:41 PM
Subject: Re: $829 / 2br - Bright &amp; spacious 2 bedroom apartment (Baseline Rd, Ottawa, K2C 0B8)
To: Michelle Banks


Hello ,

I hope this email finds you well. The apartment is located at 1720 Baseline Rd, Ottawa, ON K2C 0B8, Canada. It has 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchen and 1 living room at $829 per month (below market value) in return for taking good care of the place. I am looking for someone who will be careful and thoughtful to live in it, as soon as possible, because I have recently suffered a divorced and I will move back home in Cambridge, England. The lease can be for a minimum 3 months. I'm the full right owner of the apartment and the utilities are included in this price (rent/month). Everything in this apt is functional because is recently renovated.
Just to mention a few, it includes: (refrigerator, washer/dryer and most important a parking place.). I would also like to know how many persons will occupy the apartment and for how long would like to sign the rent contract. (any pets? cats or dogs?). Unfortunately I, have the keys no one else have access in the apartment because it is a private property.

Thank you for your interest and wait news from you.


The thief will tell you that you can rent his accommodation only if you can prove that you have genuine interest. He will ask you send money by wire transfer (normally Western Union) to yourself or a member of the family to show that you have sufficient finances and that you are not a "time waster".

Another variation of this scam is that you need to send money (again via Western Union) in order that the keys and other documents can be couriered to you

He will ask you to send him the transfer details.

Make no mistake ! Western Union Transfers can be picked up virtually anywhere in the world and with the minimum of identification. They are almost impossible to trace once the money has been collected. You will never get to see the accommodation or your money again.

If you are reading this because you are looking for property to rent, and you are in contact with this thief you are probably searching Gumtree or similar listing sites. If you receive any requests from 'Landlords' asking for some kind of payment by Western Union before viewing, then it will also be a scam. Please forward the mail to me at the address in my signature line and I will investigate and list them if necessary.
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by newt67 Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:21 pm
God bless you Michelle! This thief almost took me for hundreds, and actually said in an email to me that if I paid for September I could have August for free!
My boyfriend and I are looking for an apartment and I'd responded to an ad in the Ottawa rentershotline.ca. Something triggered a red flag so I thought I'd do a Google search and lo and behold...
I can't thank you enough!
Best regards,
JP
by kmp84 Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:55 pm
Hi there, just wanted to say i'm so glad I found this! I got the EXACT same email from a jessica stevens, a yahoo account as well. Same apt, including rooms, price was $724 and the location was in missisauga, but same story too about how she had just "suffered a divorce" and was in cambridge england. I got a bad feeling as soon as I got an email back saying rent payments would be transfered though money wiring. I ran into a similar situation when buying a car last year. Needless to say I am very relieved I looked more into it! So thank you for posting this! I hope more people are careful there are a lot of scam artists out there!
by Clauds25 Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:42 am
Thank you for posting about Jessica as my best friends and i were just about to get everything ready to make a switch for the keys... this is the second time now... it kinda sucks :(

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