University of Waterloo police warn students about potential rental scams

TheUniversity of Waterloo Police Services says students should be consciousofhousing rental scams that involve fraudulent renters looking for property to rent and fraudulent properties for rent.

Theservice said scammers often advertise rentals in preferred locations andask people to answer a questionnaireto get their personaland banking information.

UW Police Servicessaid there have beeninstances whererenters sendscammers the first and last month's rent payments to a property they want to rentonly to laterfind out the property doesn't exist.

They recommend that people reviewthe contract thoroughly and have a friend or family member view it as well. They also recommend to go to view the property to make sure it exists.

Other instances surround scammers who claim they want to rent a property, but have no intention to live there.

The service says scammers may send a form of "overpayment" and ask for additional funds to be sent back to them.

"Never return funds that are 'overpayment'," the UW Police Services said in a release."If this occurs, suggest applying the amount to their next month's rent. Have the money e-transferred to an email address specifically designated for such transactions that do not link to your personal email."

Ashley Dietrich with the The Waterloo Regional Police Services (WRPS) told CBC KW in an email that police have "received reports indicating that rental scams are still occurring within the region."

WRPS and UW Police Services suggest to limitpersonal and banking information sharedwith the property owner or renter, as scammers could use that information for otherfraud purposes.

WRPS says to contact the ad publisher, file a complaint with theCanadian Anti-Fraud Centreand contact police to make a report if someone has been a victim of a rental scam.

UW Police Services also recommends to keep as much information about the fraud such as documents, receipts andcopies of emails or text messages.