MEMBER ALERT: Fraudulent Lease Advertisements

January 20, 2020 -- A Member called to report that a person showed up at his client's property for lease. They were looking for "Bruno, the landlord." This fraudulent landlord advertiser was most likely trying to obtain a deposit from the interested renter before they viewed the property for lease and realized that Bruno was not the landlord and was fraudulently advertising the rental unit.

A recurring scenario has fraudsters using legitimate for lease or sale listing information to post false rental listings online. Many of these fraudulent listings may advertise a rental amount lower than what similar units may lease for, they may request that a deposit or first and last month's rent be sent to them via wire transfer before a property may be viewed or to secure the lease, or they might note upfront that due to certain circumstances, no in-person visits, to or inside the property, are possible. 

Internet fraud can be reported to local police and to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Call Centre, which is jointly managed by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Competition Bureau. For more information, visit www.antifraudcentre.ca