Mohit Dudeja came to Thunder Bay to teach at Lakehead and complete a PhD. He says that it was difficult to avoid scams while trying to find rental housing.
Renters in Thunder Bay, Ont., say they've been taken for a ride by online scammers, and anti-fraud interests say they're just some of the victims of a problem that's getting worse across Canada. They also offer red flags to look for to avoid being the latest victim.Chris Norris said he was on a tight deadline to find a new apartment and ended up the victim of a rental scammer’s high-pressure tactics.He needs to be out of his rental in Thunder Bay, Ont.
"I got to jump the gun and make sure I'm doing everything I can to secure a place," said Norris. "I desperately need a place because my landlord is selling where I am right now." Housing-related scams are easy and lucrative for criminals, said Rachel Jolicoeur, director of the Cyber Market Intelligence and Financial Crimes centre at Interac. Compared to other online scams, rental fraud allows scammers to "cast a very wide net."
Mohit Dudeja came to Thunder Bay, Ont., from India to teach at Lakehead and complete a PhD. He says it was difficult to avoid scams while trying to find rental housing. Vanessa Owusu-Afriyie, a student in Lakehead's bachelor of education program, told CBC News she booked accommodation through AIrbnb, with the hope using the short-term rental platform would protect her from scams.When she got to the unit she paid the deposit on, she said, the person who answered the door told her, "'It was no longer an Airbnb. As a matter of fact, it was sold to somebody else.
Chris Norris says he thought he found an affordable rental on Facebook marketplace, but it turned out to be a scam.
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