Con artists are tricking renters using recycled listings info

Leasing an apartment in the city is a bloodsport already, and now there’s another thing for Toronto renters to worry about. Police are warning apartment-seekers about a series of fake rental ads created using photos and property details from sale listings. In one case, a Riverdale house that was for sale back in March was listed as a rental property at a tantalizingly low rate, but when renters inquired by email, the scammers wrote the “landlord” couldn’t show anyone around because he lived in New Jersey (and then asked for a deposit, natch). Understandably, the legit home-owners of the Riverdale place are creeped out that someone was impersonating them—perhaps some of TREB’s scare-mongering over making listings public was actually warranted. [CBC News]