Cottage rental scammers could be posing as your business

Rental scams, especially those targeting cottage rentals, are rampant this summer.

Fraudsters are impersonating real estate agents to defraud would-be tenants. They steal photos and information from legitimate listings, use email spoofing, and even guide victims to real open houses to build trust before swindling them out of thousands of dollars in rent deposits.

Tenant protection

As legitimate as it can look, cottage rental providers and law enforcement say there are giveaway signs tenants should look out for.

“No legitimate transaction will ever require a customer to provide their credit card details by phone, email, or text message (this includes WhatsApp),” cautioned Booking.com, after one of their users lost $7,700 to a fake luxury villa listing.

The Ontario Provincial Police has also issued warnings, advising against sending money via direct deposit or e-transfer. They also recommend viewing properties in person, with the owner present, and suggest only dealing with reputable businesses specialising in cottage rentals.

Though rental scams are not new, Jeff Horncastle from the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre noted the seasonal spike: "Definitely, this is the time of the year to watch out for cottage rental scams. They are everywhere."

Victims have reported losses of $308,000 so far this year, on top of $831,875 in 2023 and $737,102 in 2022.

How property managers can protect their business from brand impersonation

Property managers can take several steps to protect their businesses from reputational harm:

• Set up Google Alerts for your brand name to catch potential brand hijacking.

• Regularly do manual searches for your brand name across the different search engines to identify unauthorised use.

• Watermark your listing photos and videos.

• Register relevant domain names and email addresses, including common misspellings, to prevent phishing attempts.

• Keep your official website and social media profiles updated. And if your business is impersonated, use these platforms to warn your customers.

More rental scams headlines

Owners warned about home improvement scams – PayProp blog

Experts say it’s getting tougher to snuff out rental scams – Storeys

Ad offering free rent for ‘friends-with-benefits relationship’ likely fake, landlord advocate says – INsauga