Beware

Who ya gonna call? Phonebusters! Okay, maybe I should give that some context.
Over the last few weeks my Ad class was working on a project called Buyer Beware. It’s a project that consists of picking a topic, conducting research, forming a conclusion, then presenting the findings in an oral presentation and in a 5 to 10 page report. The idea is to look at the topic with the best interest of the consumer in mind. In other words, to point out anything that’s a bit shady and might be trying to rip the customer off.
My group, group number 3, chose to do our Buyer Beware on the ever-increasing trend of false real estate listings on online classified websites.
While looking for an apartment, one of my group members had come across several listings for apartments that all seemed too good to be true. Each was spacious, furnished, allowed pets, and was listed at a price much below the normal for an equivalent apartment. They would normally have photographs of the interior that showed hardwood floors in good condition and wood furniture.
Some potential tenants looking for an apartment who come across these ads might find themselves jumping up and knocking their wheelie-office chair over, while at the same time throwing their hands in the air and shouting, “What a Bargain!”
However, before these hardworking, apartment needing salt of the earth types get too excited I feel obligated to caution them. “Consider this my friend,” I would say. Then I would ask them a few questions about the apartment listing.
Is the listing written in all caps?
Does the listing have an over abundance of awkward phrasing and spelling and grammatical errors?
Is the person who posted the listing very much in love with their apartment, by which, I mean has this been overstated to the extreme?
Is the apartment much cheaper than it should be?
Have the persons who posted the listing recently left town for some glanderous reason? Ex. they are doctors who have gone to Africa to aid in Aids relief or some other philanthropic trip overseas.
Are you unable to view the apartment?
Does the person who has listed the apartment need you to send them the money before they will mail you the key?
If the hypothetical tenants answered yes to any of these questions, I’d have to suggest that the listing is probably a scam, and I would recommend that they do not send any money to the person who posted the listing.
I will even recommend that any persons who have come across listings like this call Phonebusters, which is a Canadian government website that is affiliated with RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, and Competition Bureau of Canada.
Currently Phonebusters doesn’t have any information on their site about this type of scam. This could be for several reasons: this kind of scam could be so new that they site just hasn’t been updated yet, there may not have been enough cases to warrant them updating it, or they may just haven’t had enough people call them to report this type of scam. So if you come across one, consider calling them.