In today’s Brandon Police media release a point was made of warning about the presence of online rental scams. Specifically those where a scammer will use the details from a legitimate ad to post their own ad with less than honourable intentions and use that ad to eventually solicit payment from those replying.
Police say a report was received of such a possible ad yesterday. Though the website the ad was reported as having been posted on was not specifically mentioned, such scams have been known to surface on this website from time to time and past alerts on them bear repeating. Generally, never send personal information, never click on links sent to you in response to your reply to an ad and never submit payment if you have not been personally shown a rental property. If you come across such an ad where this type of information is being requested before you’ve seen a place, please report it by clicking on the flag icon that’s placed on every ad on the site. Your reports go a long way toward keeping the classifieds in ship-shape as the safest possible place for buyers and sellers to connect!
The full notice from Police reads as follows:
"On April 3, 2019, Brandon Police received information of a possible rental property scam/fraud online. Fraudsters have been known to copy legitimate ads online and represent them as their own. Please be cautious when inquiring online about rentals and do not send money until you have taken appropriate steps to ensure its legitimacy."
For more information on best safe practices when using the classifieds, please check out https://ebrandon.ca/classifieds_safety.aspx