More Scams have been making their way around as COVID-19 continues.

This time the Better Business Bureau is warning of a new twist on an old scam involving renters.  Due to the new social distancing rules, scammers are posing as landlords looking for new tenants.  These scammers will find listings for active properties and repost them on a different site such as Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji.  They will then take the listing and offer anyone who shows interest a “Look at the place” however because of the social distancing, will usually only offer a tour from outside without being present.  After the outside tour if the renter still shows interest they will usually request the first month’s rent and security deposit via e-transfer.

Shawna Kay-Thomas of the BBB has some tips to avoid getting caught in this new twist on an old scam.  Never Send Money to Anyone You Don’t Know if you haven’t met your landlord in person, never seen the property and don’t have a signed lease or some form of agreement you should never send money via e-transfer, gift cards or any other way.  Most of the time if someone requests money when the situation seems off its a scam.

Do Research on the Property, if a property is for sale it will more than likely be listed on multiple locations, a simple review can reveal inconsistency that can be major red flags.  If something seems off about a property it could be a scam.  This could include the photo not being the same across different sites, does the address match across sites?

Search the website it is listed on for duplicate ads, If the same address is listed on a site multiple times under different names it could be a scam, or one of the listings could be a scam.  Avoid unrealistic promotions or deals, If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.  Be mindful of the market value of a location and keep that in mind when searching for a property.  If the offer is way below the rest of the area its usually a scam

Watch for virtual tours, while some virtual tours are offered by genuine landlords trying to sell or rent it is also very easy for a scammer to use these to show off a property they “own” if the landlord can not physically show you the property before you send them money it is usually a scam.  Some websites have started taking steps to spot scammers on their websites including Craigslist.