A Calgary woman is being harassed by would-be renters after an ad for her property was posted on a popular online classified site.
Criminals post phony property rental ads in online classifieds fairly often and then wait for unsuspecting renters to wire them money.
Amber LaFrance leases a home that con artists recently posted on Craigslist for rent.
One couple even showed up ready to move in and LaFrance had to tell them that they had wired their $1600 to criminals.
LaFrance and the property management company that handles the house emailed Craigslist for more than a week telling them to remove the ad.
"If they had taken this ad down this wouldn't have happened to those people and i'm furious that companies can get away with that and there's no accountability and it's not right, they're helping these scammers pull off their scam, they're facilitating it,” said Amber LaFrance.
The property management company knows this rental scam all too well and getting online classified companies to take down fraudulent versions of their ads has become a routine part of Ronna Black's day.
"It can take up to a week and in that week we have tenants whose privacy is being invaded, their houses are being invaded," said Black.
Black says she is surprised at how long it takes Craigslist to remove a fraudulent ad.
"It just makes me feel like Craigslist doesn't care about the end consumer and doesn't care about who gets hurt in the process, they hide behind the buyer beware,” said Black
CTV Calgary’s Consumer Watch Specialist, Lea Williams-Doherty emailed Craigslist and they did not get back to her with a comment.
Lea says that in terms of liability, Craigslist has terms of use which contain tons of disclaimers stating users do so at their own risk.
The company is not liable for anything including damages caused by illegal postings.
Lea has some advice for those who do use online classifieds and says that if you can't meet the person and do the deal in person, don't do it.
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