With inflation and home prices on the rise, finding an affordable apartment to rent has become a strenuous affair, but renters also have to dodge fake landlords and phantom rentals. Fortunately, one realtor has taken to social media to explain why it’s crucial never to give up money upfront without seeing a property firsthand and tips to spot a fake listing online.
Anya Ettinger, who represents clients in Toronto, has amassed nearly 40k followers on TikTok by offering tips to renters in recent years.
In a recent clip, she explained: “Whenever the rental market heats up, more and more rental scams will pop up on places like Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, Craigslist.
“Now I really enjoy trying to find these rental scams, so let’s take a look at some.”
She starts off by using the example of a very “competitively priced” apartment with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, on offer for just $900 a month in Toronto’s Fort York.
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In this case, because the precise address of the property appears on the listing, Ettinger looks it up to find that the description of the property does match previous adverts.
“These are essentially just ridiculously underpriced, way too good to be true, apartments,” pointed out Ettinger.
“So moral of the story, if you see anything, especially on Facebook Marketplace, any private listing place, […] that appears too good to be true, it is.
“Never send someone money before seeing an apartment, unless you’re working with a realtor who previews it for you and you go through that whole process privately.
Lauren Carr was ripped off of $1,600 dollars after opting for a last-minute Craigslist vacation rental deal.
The fraud victim told CBS News: “Try to go with your gut feeling, does it feel right? if it looks like it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
“I sort of had that pit in my stomach as I knew immediately something doesn’t seem right.”
She continued: “It’s hard enough to get scammed out of money but to show up on a vacation, you got your bags packed, and we had dogs with us like it was not a very good experience.”
Commenting on the incident, Nancy Cahalen, from the Better Business Bureau, noted that many of the properties listed by scammers are not for rent at all.
The Better Business Bureau warned that holiday rental scams are one of the most common types of fraud in action at the moment.
Fraudsters simply use pictures of other people’s homes, along with a description of the property, and post them online at a lower price.
To avoid complications it’s worth verifying the property by getting in touch with an owner and make sure all bookings take place through a verified site.