Couple Trying To Move To Toronto Warn Of Elaborate Online Rental Scam In Red Hot Market

But the Oakville couple, O’Donoghue, quickly learned that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is – and they almost avoided losing $ 4,400 in first- and last-month rent to a scammer. Eakley and his fiancée, Alejandra Gil, share their experiences to warn other prospective tenants of an intricate rental scam that they say affects those trying to find an affordable home in the hot Toronto home market. “It’s very difficult to find a place,” Eakley told CBC News. “It’s sad that people are worried about that, too.” Merchandise fraud – which includes fake internet advertisements for everything from puppies to apartment rentals – erupted in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports of these scams nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, and the money lost through them increased from $ 4.3 million in 2019 to $ 14.4 million in 2020 and nearly $ 12.3 million in 2021, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center.

The stadium came from an alleged retiree in Spain

Earlier this month, Eakley found an ad on the PadMapper rental app for a two-bedroom attic in an apartment building in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighborhood for $ 2,200 a month. “I woke up and Jake had his phone and he said, ‘I just found the next place to live,’” Gill recalls. “This [rental] I checked all the boxes “. In this email to the couple, the alleged scammer states the reasons why he rented the attic and the alleged third party involved. Property records show that David Terrance does not own the attic. NAI Global is a real company, but it says it has nothing to do with the fraud and has reported it to the police. (Submitted by Alejandra Gil)
After responding to the ad, the alleged owner of the apartment contacted Eakley, who introduced himself as David Terrance, a Canadian retiree living in Spain. In an email to CBC News, Terrance explained to Eakley and Gil that he had bought the apartment for his son, but because his son was now studying abroad, he was renting the unit remotely from Spain. To do this, Terrance told the couple he wanted to use a third party real estate company. The couple said the company would send them the attic keys and a copy of the lease agreement after Eakley and Gil transferred $ 4,400 to the company for the first and last month’s rent. The money would be kept on bail until they visited the unit and decided if they wanted to rent the attic. “That’s where the really big red flags came out,” Eakley said. “We have not seen the place yet, and you still want to pay first?” One of the many photos sent by the man who claims to be the owner of the attic to Gil and Eakley when they wanted to rent the apartment in the Liberty Village neighborhood of Toronto. (Submitted by Alejandra Gil)
Terrance also said they would have to send a third party a copy of their photo IDs to confirm their identities. At that point, the couple was not yet completely discouraged because they also received emails believed to be from the third real estate company confirming the process described by the alleged scammer, providing documents to sign and appeared to confirm Terrance’s identity with a scan. a Canadian passport. CBC News contacted the alleged swindler at the email address used to contact Eakley and Gil about the story, but received no response.

Third company real but not involved

NAI Global, the third company whose name and logo appear on emails and documents the couple received, exists but does not operate residential buildings. The New York-based real estate company deals with commercial real estate. In an email, President and CEO Jay Olshonsky told CBC News that the company was aware of the scam and had reported it to police in Canada and Craigslist, a site with classified ads. “Someone is using our name, we have nothing to do with it and we respond to anyone who contacts us by telling them it is a scam,” Olshonsky said. He said he had contacted the company at least 20 times about the fraud. CBC News also found several warning posts on the Internet that reported rental emails using the same story of a retiree in Spain received by the Oakville couple. But instead of the Toronto loft in those emails, the retiree was looking to rent apartments in Kitchener, Od., Calgary and Victoria. The latest post provides the same Spanish phone number given to Eakley and Gil, but uses a different variant of David Terrance’s name.

Frauds become more “sophisticated”

Based on the details of Eakley and Gil’s experience, cybersecurity expert Ryan Duquette said he suspected the scam came from some sort of organized group. “We’re starting to see scammers out there becoming a little more sophisticated,” said Duquette, national cybersecurity chief for RSM Canada in Toronto. Ryan Duquette, national cybersecurity chief for RSM Canada in Toronto, says the biggest warning signs that something could be fraudulent are when the person renting the apartment can not meet in person and ask for money in advance. (Micah Highland)
“They provide things like a passport or other official-looking documents, a company that will keep money on bail, something that entices this person that this is true.” Duquette said the biggest warning signs that something could be fraudulent are when the person renting the apartment can not meet in person and ask for money in advance.

Attic belonging to another

For Eakley and Gil, the last straw came after they asked a real estate agent they know to look into who owns the Liberty Village loft. The property records showed that the real owner’s name was completely different. “You can not rent a place that does not belong to you,” said Eakley. “It was kind of like that when we knew for sure that it was a scam and that we should not move money.” The couple has contacted Toronto police and is waiting to speak with an investigator. They are still chasing apartments, but they say they will be more skeptical in the future. “Always trust your instincts,” Gil said. “If it sounds too good to be true, unfortunately it probably is.”

title: “Couple Trying To Move To Toronto Warn Of Elaborate Online Rental Scam In Red Hot Market " ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Jesse Moore”

But the Oakville couple, O’Donoghue, quickly learned that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is – and they almost avoided losing $ 4,400 in first- and last-month rent to a scammer. Eakley and his fiancée, Alejandra Gil, share their experiences to warn other prospective tenants of an intricate rental scam that they say affects those trying to find an affordable home in the hot Toronto home market. “It’s very difficult to find a place,” Eakley told CBC News. “It’s sad that people are worried about that, too.” Merchandise fraud – which includes fake internet advertisements for everything from puppies to apartment rentals – erupted in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports of these scams nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, and the money lost through them increased from $ 4.3 million in 2019 to $ 14.4 million in 2020 and nearly $ 12.3 million in 2021, according to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center.

The stadium came from an alleged retiree in Spain

Earlier this month, Eakley found an ad on the PadMapper rental app for a two-bedroom attic in an apartment building in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighborhood for $ 2,200 a month. “I woke up and Jake had his phone and he said, ‘I just found the next place to live,’” Gill recalls. “This [rental] I checked all the boxes “. In this email to the couple, the alleged scammer states the reasons why he rented the attic and the alleged third party involved. Property records show that David Terrance does not own the attic. NAI Global is a real company, but it says it has nothing to do with the fraud and has reported it to the police. (Submitted by Alejandra Gil)
After responding to the ad, the alleged owner of the apartment contacted Eakley, who introduced himself as David Terrance, a Canadian retiree living in Spain. In an email to CBC News, Terrance explained to Eakley and Gil that he had bought the apartment for his son, but because his son was now studying abroad, he was renting the unit remotely from Spain. To do this, Terrance told the couple he wanted to use a third party real estate company. The couple said the company would send them the attic keys and a copy of the lease agreement after Eakley and Gil transferred $ 4,400 to the company for the first and last month’s rent. The money would be kept on bail until they visited the unit and decided if they wanted to rent the attic. “That’s where the really big red flags came out,” Eakley said. “We have not seen the place yet, and you still want to pay first?” One of the many photos sent by the man who claims to be the owner of the attic to Gil and Eakley when they wanted to rent the apartment in the Liberty Village neighborhood of Toronto. (Submitted by Alejandra Gil)
Terrance also said they would have to send a third party a copy of their photo IDs to confirm their identities. At that point, the couple was not yet completely discouraged because they also received emails believed to be from the third real estate company confirming the process described by the alleged scammer, providing documents to sign and appeared to confirm Terrance’s identity with a scan. a Canadian passport. CBC News contacted the alleged swindler at the email address used to contact Eakley and Gil about the story, but received no response.

Third company real but not involved

NAI Global, the third company whose name and logo appear on emails and documents the couple received, exists but does not operate residential buildings. The New York-based real estate company deals with commercial real estate. In an email, President and CEO Jay Olshonsky told CBC News that the company was aware of the scam and had reported it to police in Canada and Craigslist, a site with classified ads. “Someone is using our name, we have nothing to do with it and we respond to anyone who contacts us by telling them it is a scam,” Olshonsky said. He said he had contacted the company at least 20 times about the fraud. CBC News also found several warning posts on the Internet that reported rental emails using the same story of a retiree in Spain received by the Oakville couple. But instead of the Toronto loft in those emails, the retiree was looking to rent apartments in Kitchener, Od., Calgary and Victoria. The latest post provides the same Spanish phone number given to Eakley and Gil, but uses a different variant of David Terrance’s name.

Frauds become more “sophisticated”

Based on the details of Eakley and Gil’s experience, cybersecurity expert Ryan Duquette said he suspected the scam came from some sort of organized group. “We’re starting to see scammers out there becoming a little more sophisticated,” said Duquette, national cybersecurity chief for RSM Canada in Toronto. Ryan Duquette, national cybersecurity chief for RSM Canada in Toronto, says the biggest warning signs that something could be fraudulent are when the person renting the apartment can not meet in person and ask for money in advance. (Micah Highland)
“They provide things like a passport or other official-looking documents, a company that will keep money on bail, something that entices this person that this is true.” Duquette said the biggest warning signs that something could be fraudulent are when the person renting the apartment can not meet in person and ask for money in advance.

Attic belonging to another

For Eakley and Gil, the last straw came after they asked a real estate agent they know to look into who owns the Liberty Village loft. The property records showed that the real owner’s name was completely different. “You can not rent a place that does not belong to you,” said Eakley. “It was kind of like that when we knew for sure that it was a scam and that we should not move money.” The couple has contacted Toronto police and is waiting to speak with an investigator. They are still chasing apartments, but they say they will be more skeptical in the future. “Always trust your instincts,” Gil said. “If it sounds too good to be true, unfortunately it probably is.”