In their frantic search for housing, tenants sometimes fall into traps set by fraudsters who take advantage of their vulnerability in a context where affordable apartments are rare.
Naomie Girard learned this the hard way. Last fall, the announcement of housing in Verdun caught his attention. The “landlord” asks her to pay him half of the rent, or $475, by Interac transfer until she can visit the desired accommodation. He then assures him that the amount will only be collected when the lease is signed. To give her confidence, he even sends her a photocopy of his supposed passport and his driving license. “When you’re looking for accommodation, sometimes you don’t really think clearly anymore,” she admits.
When she arrives there, she understands that she is dealing with a scammer. In front of the building, a sign indicates that it is for sale. And, of course, the transfer was collected by his interlocutor, who no longer responds to his messages. Mme Girard filed a complaint with the police in Châteauguay, where she lives. She ends up receiving another message from the fake landlord, who, this time, demands the second half of the rent. Naomie Girard doesn’t get caught a second time. However, it is impossible for her to recover her payment, her banking institution considering that the sending of money that she made was a “voluntary gesture” on her part. Mme Girard subsequently found accommodation, a real one this time.
The victims of “Michel Morin”
Resident of Montreal’s South Shore, Robert Dumouchel followed the advice of another tenant on social networks and contacted by email a real estate agent, a certain Michel Morin, likely to offer him accommodation.
“Michel Morin” then asks him for $50, because he lives in Sherbrooke and does not want to travel for nothing. “In all innocence, I sent the $50 he asked for by Interac,” says Robert Dumouchel. The fraudster then asks for $900, which the tenant in his fifties transfers to him, “before canceling the transfer immediately”, feeling like the victim of fraud. The tenant then went to the location of the visit, but the false owner never showed up on site.
Philippe Mayer also dealt with Michel Morin, for accommodation in Montreal. By email, the pseudo-real estate agent asks him for $100 for the visit, assuring him that it will be reimbursed during their meeting. “There’s not a lot of cheap rent. It’s really hard to get visitors. I thought, “I’m getting squeezed out, so I don’t have much time.” He responded quickly, so I sent the $100,” he explains.
The day after this exchange, on January 18, Philippe Mayer went there to visit the accommodation. But Michel Morin is conspicuous by his absence. “He never showed up and, besides, it was cold. I waited outside for a good half hour. In the evening, I was in good shape. But I had his card [professionnelle]. The phone number didn’t work, but the company number did. » On the phone, the company indicates that Michel Morin is a fraudster. “It was explained to me that I was not the first to be caught like that.”
An identity at risk
Jonathan Lessard did not send money to a fraudster, but he believes he disclosed enough information to a so-called owner to compromise her credit report. After seeing the advertisement for furnished accommodation in Limoilou, he communicates with the potential landlord, who asks him for certain information in anticipation of his visit: his name, his telephone number, his date of birth, his profession and his telephone number. social insurance. However, he refuses to reveal his social insurance number, information he considers too personal.
Claiming to live abroad, his interlocutor tells him that his son, who lives in Rimouski, could come to show him the accommodation. However, she requires a deposit. Jonathan Lessard flatly refuses. “I never give a deposit to a stranger,” he says. He claims to have realized a few days later that information in his credit file had been modified the day after his exchange with the landlord. Although he lives in the Quebec region, his credit file indicates an address in Montreal and an unknown telephone number, he says. “They tried three times in the space of three days to get a credit card,” says Mr. Lessard. He wasn’t robbed of any money, but he says he had a narrow escape.