We are warning community members of an online rental scam on the popular Kijiji website, Ottawa living, usedOttawa, etc. In the fraudulent rental ad, the renter is claiming to rent a property at a value well below the legitimate ad fee. This individual(s) has copied a legitimate ad, made minor changes and lowered the rental price to make it more appealing. In order to avoid rental scams, remember the following:

Only deal with landlords or renters who are local;

• Be suspicious if you are asked to only use a wire transfer service;
• Beware of e-mail correspondence from the "landlord" that's written in poor or broken English;
• Research the average rental rates in that area and be suspicious if the rate is significantly lower;
• Do not under any circumstances give out personal information, like social security, bank account, or credit card numbers.