Renter Scam

Created: prior to 2018

Renter Scam

Recently (at the time I'm writing this), due to a couple of my kids going to University, I had the, lets call it, "opportunity" to find out about some Rental Scams. Fortunately we did not get "caught" and are working with the bank and police to catch the one offender that got very close to scamming us.

If you are planning on renting TO someone, this page is a type of scam you want to avoid that someone tried to pull on us. If you are planning on renting FROM someone ... then go to my Renter Scam page Here for a scam that someone tried to pull on some other people we met. This page is designed simply to be educational in hopes that it will help people avoid being scammed by people trying to make money without providing a legitimate service.

The scam goes like this...

Victoria answered our online ad (note we had about 4 other people try to scam us in the same way from our ads placed in various places, Victoria was the only one that was done well enough that she almost fooled us, the others were blatantly obvious really early on.)

The room is (yes my kids still rent out rooms) a bedroom with Ensuite with Utilities, WiFi, Printer access and a whole bunch more, right next to the University renting for $750 (My page for this is Here if you want to see what it looked like.). She agreed to the terms, said she was sending in the paperwork along with a cheque her Dad was sending for the Damage Deposit ($750).

The cheque arrived, it was for $2,750 - yes, considerably more than the $750 DD he was supposed to send. It was a Royal Bank of Canada draft - or at least that is what it looked like.

Her mistake: She didn't realize that we could take the cheque directly to the Royal Bank and try to cash it immediately, at which point the Royal Bank informs us that the cheque was fraudulent. Or, failing that, we take it to our Canadian bank and ask they deposit it "with a hold" on it until it has cleared, that way, no fees when it turns out ot be fraudulent.

She then asked me to send her $2000 (the over-payment) ASAP. She cried that it needed to be fast because she needed the $2000 to pay for airfare, and if I didn't get her the money back right away, she would be unable to come. She begged and pleaded. She told me "My father and I are Christians, you can trust us, please send even $1250 and use the rest for my initial rent." Basically she tried to get me to give her ANY money for the excess payment her father sent her.

Of course at my end, the Royal bank said - no, that is not a legitimate instrument. It is a garbage piece of paper.

Her (assuming it was a she of course) hope was that I would send her the $2000 or the $1250 or anything before I found out that the $2750 check was fake.

A very simple fraud and, unfortunately, many people fall for it. She was very convincing that if I didn't send her back the excess immediately, that she would be unable to come to attend classes on time.

At one point, more for fun than anything else, I asked her to give me a list of her classes and we would have someone get the 1st few days' class info so that, once the check cleared and I sent the money, she could come 'late' but still catch up.

She (or he) then went on to threaten me and blame me for causing her to fail, for 'stealing' her money. She wasn't as blunt as this - she was actually quite convincing. I repeated my "When the check clears I'll send you the excess. In the mean time we can help you gather info for your classes and pass it on to you so that, when you arrive late, you will not be behind." And we knew enough people that it is a promise we would have kept had she been 'willing' to accept it.

The check eventually, as above, was proven to be fake and everything from her/him was a complete lie. But boy, it was hard - we were worried that, on the very unlikely case she was telling the truth, we were taking a 'mean' stand. This was especially true because I am a Christian and I take my faith very seriously. But obviously it turned out, her claim that she and her father were Christians was also a total lie.

When I told 'her' that the check was fraudulent, she sent one last vociferous email with all sorts of nasty things being said about me. I guess hoping one last time that I might send her some money. But by that point I no longer cared, and I told Outlook to never show me an email from her again.

How to avoid this scam

First of all, as a Renter, you probably are going to get this type of scam from time to time - in fact, in discussing with others, it will happen almost all the time if you advertise on any internet media that potential renters can see without cost. You can avoid it by not advertising in any internet or print media. So, if you are able to get all the renters you need by word of mouth - just avoid using any internet or print advertising methods, just use word of mouth. That way you are very unlikely to have this type of scam.

But that may not be practical. As a famous saying goes: "Something horrible happens when you don't advertise: Nothing." And by advertising we were able to get real renters for our place within 24 hours (for the ad placed in August we have several more legitimate requests than we had rooms - the one in September needed due to the scammer was not nearly as fast unfortunately). (The house is extremely desireable - kids can go home for lunch in less time than it took me to go for lunch when I went to the University of Calgary and the house is in show home condition) and we had a waiting list of 3 people before I unfortunately accepted Victoria's fake offer. So for us - advertising is important and worth it.

ALWAYS check the references. And one thing I do - I don't use the phone numbers the renter applicant gives, rather I check directory assistance for the person/company and phone that number. One of Victoria's numbers was a real number - it just wasn't a number to the reference she said it was for.