Waterloo police are investigating reports of a rental scam that has left three students out thousands of dollars and at least one with nowhere to live next month — a growing problem across the country amid spiking rental demand.
Waterloo police are investigating reports of a rental scam that has left three students out thousands of dollars and at least one with nowhere to live next month — one example of a growing fraud problem across the country amidOne of the students, Armina Soleymani, told the Star she was robbed of her entire savings. Soleymani said more needs to be done to prevent others from falling into the same convincing trap.
Yiu said skyrocketing rental activity as Canada recovers from the pandemic has spurred the increase in fraud. Rental averages have increased as much as 40 per cent since 2020 in major rental markets, she said. In early August, Soleymani, like many people nearing the end of their leases, turned to social media to find a new apartment. She said she found a personal ad offering a sublet on Facebook, indiscernible from thousands of legitimate ones posted to the website daily.
The woman led Soleymani around, taught her how the apartment locks worked and indicated where she would leave the laundry card for her, once Soleymani took possession, Soleymani said. Soleymani said the building manager informed her they had no information about the scammer’s true identity. Soleymani said she signed a realistic sublet agreement, likely copied verbatim from a genuine Blackline Management lease, and paid $2,000 for first and last month’s rent in cash at the scammer’s insistence with the stipulation that subsequent payments would be through Interac e-transfer.
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