Investigators with the Saskatoon Police Service Economic Crime Unit have continued to see an increase in home rental scams over the last year. Specifically there have been multiple frauds involving one victim's stolen identity. The suspect(s) have used this stolen identity to pose as a landlord/owner on Kijiji or Facebook advertising homes for rent, when in fact these houses are for sale, not for rent.
Fraudsters duplicate photos from online real estate websites and post them on local buy, sell, and rent web platforms as homes for rent. These frauds have also occurred in other western Canadian cities.
The Saskatoon Police Service is warning users of these buy, sell, or rent web platforms that not all information and merchandise listed is necessarily always true or accurate. Users are reminded to thoroughly research a product before issuing payment and remember "if it's too good to be true, it probably is".
