00:00hi guys and welcome back to my channel
00:02living in canada today i want to talk a
00:05bit about rental scams yes scams are
00:09really awful things but i thought it's
00:11really important to make a video about
00:13this because a lot of scammers are
00:15trying to take advantage especially of
00:18those people who are new here in canada
00:20who might not be really aware that these
00:23kind of scams exist here even in canada
00:26so i hope that this video will help you
00:29to prevent falling prey to such schemes
00:32if you're watching this video you might
00:34have just arrived here in canada in
00:36toronto or in vancouver and are in the
00:39process of looking for a rather
00:42permanent place to stay or perhaps you
00:44are even in process of simply moving to
00:47a different better place or location
00:50in any case be aware that there are
00:53rental scams here in canada so although
00:56canada is a developed and first world
00:58country still rental scams exist so this
01:02is what sometimes happens you're looking
01:04for an apartment to rent you're googling
01:06apartments in toronto or you're sifting
01:09through facebook ads and there are a lot
01:11of interesting ads but you will notice
01:13that most apartments will be rather
01:15expensive so it really takes a while
01:18until you find something that fits your
01:20budget but then you might come across
01:22something like this a one bedroom
01:24apartment for just one thousand and
01:27three hundred dollars in the center of
01:30the city in a beautiful luxurious
01:32condominium and you jump on it and you
01:35think like you finally found your dream
01:37apartment but not so fast because this
01:39might be a rental scam so one of the
01:42indicators that the apartment that
01:44you're looking at might be a rental scam
01:47is if it's too good to be true so how to
01:50know if it's too good to be true for
01:52that it's a good idea to know what the
01:54market price is what the range the
01:57normal range of one bedroom apartments
01:59let's say here in toronto is so if you
02:02based on your research already know that
02:05a one bedroom apartment in downtown
02:07toronto cost something between 1 700 to
02:12let's just say as an example and then
02:15you find the perfect apartment which
02:17costs only 1 350 1 400 dollars then
02:22that's a red flag i'm not saying that
02:24those kind of deals don't exist at all
02:27but if you come across something like
02:29that then you need to first of all
02:30really scrutinize it and ask yourself
02:33why is the person renting this apartment
02:36at such a low price okay so that was the
02:38first red flag the next red flag is the
02:41person renting out the apartment not
02:44meeting you in person so you're
02:46interested in this apartment and you
02:48contact this person let's say on
02:50facebook and you start communicating or
02:53it might be per email so what would
02:55normally happen if it's a legit
02:57apartment rental ad is that
03:00you get in touch and you agree on a
03:01specific day time and the location which
03:04is the apartment location and you meet
03:07up you meet up with the person or the
03:09agent who is in charge of renting out
03:11that apartment you meet in person and
03:14you see the actual unit you actually go
03:16into the unit and view it but that's not
03:19the case for rental scams in a case of a
03:22rental scam oftentimes the person will
03:25start communicating with you back and
03:27forth and will tell you all these
03:30long-winded complicated stories why they
03:33can't meet you in person right now they
03:35might say that you need to get in touch
03:37with someone else or another company or
03:41they will give you some kind of fake
03:43story about them being overseas and that
03:46is why they can't meet you at the moment
03:48and so on so if a rental ad is legit
03:51then usually the person will be straight
03:53to the point you're interested to view
03:55the apartment okay when can we meet at
03:57the apartment to view the apartment and
03:59then you see it but if it's a scam then
04:01of course the scammer will come up with
04:03all kinds of stories to make you believe
04:06that it's a legit ad and somehow get you
04:09to pay the money without ever seeing the
04:11apartment and that leads me to red flag
04:13number three and that is the person the
04:15scammer asking you to transfer the money
04:18let's say for the deposit without you
04:20ever having seen the actual unit meeting
04:23the person let alone sign a contract a
04:27proper con rental contract and this is
04:29something that you should never ever do
04:31no matter how enticing you think this
04:34deal is never ever send anyone money for
04:36the rent for the deposit if you've never
04:39even met the person seen the unit if
04:43certain that this is legit and you've
04:45signed a proper contract because trust
04:48me you will lose your money and i myself
04:50actually almost experienced this but i
04:52was aware of these red flags pretty
04:55early on in the process so
04:57don't worry nothing happened to me but
04:59it was a similar story i was looking for
05:01an apartment and i saw an ad on facebook
05:04and it looked really interesting it
05:06looked like a really nice unit it was a
05:10location it was near a subway station
05:13and the price was only one thousand four
05:15hundred dollars and it's not unheard of
05:18that in this particular area there are
05:20actually one bedrooms at that price we
05:23started getting suspicious when we
05:24started communicating with this person
05:26when we told the person that we wanted
05:28to meet up to see the unit the person
05:30started telling us stories about him
05:32being in spain doing blah blah blah and
05:37unit this apartment for his son as an
05:39investment and all these other
05:40unnecessary stories and that was a huge
05:43red flag for us so we had a few
05:45communications back and forth but then
05:47it came to a point where we were
05:49convinced that okay this is not a proper
05:52ad and i think that the scammer himself
05:54in the end somehow got a feeling that we
05:56didn't trust him because at one point we
05:59went back to the ad and it wasn't there
06:02anymore so be aware of these three red
06:05flags when renting an apartment and now
06:08i also want to tell you what to do
06:10instead so the first thing never rent
06:12something online never rent something
06:14that you have not seen in person yet not
06:17only because it might be a scam but it's
06:20also a really good idea to see the place
06:22before you rent it because something
06:24that might look really good in a picture
06:26might be totally different in reality so
06:29now you might ask what if i'm not in
06:31canada yet what if i'm still overseas
06:34i'm still in china and india in in
06:37germany in spain and so on and i need a
06:39place by the time i arrive in that case
06:42just do what i did when i first arrived
06:45in canada we first stayed at a friend's
06:49and after that we even stayed at an
06:51airbnb for a while and after about a
06:53month plus after we got a pretty good
06:55idea of the different neighborhoods and
06:59we knew what kind of place we wanted to
07:01stay at then we actually rented an
07:03apartment so don't rush once you arrive
07:06here in canada the best thing to do is
07:08just stay at a friend's place or
07:10relatives place first and
07:12if you need even more time rent an
07:15airbnb take your time and research
07:18different areas and the rental prices
07:20and so on and the second thing that you
07:22need to make sure that you do is to
07:24always sign a proper contract before you
07:27pay anything at all and make sure that
07:30you really read through the terms of
07:32that contract read through how long that
07:34contract is valid for how much you need
07:37to pay what is included what is not
07:39included and so on and number three just
07:41very general advice to make sure that
07:44you avoid any kind of scam is just
07:48trust your gut in this case if you
07:51encounter something that you're
07:53suspicious of that you feel is a bit
07:56fishy then just stop right there and
07:58don't even sign anything take your time
08:00and research it further look up that
08:03apartment that you're about to rent on
08:04google and sometimes you might be able
08:07to find some hints either that that
08:09might be a scam perhaps someone else
08:11before you has been lured into that scam
08:14before and they wrote about that
08:16somewhere online or you might even find
08:18out some other things about that
08:20department that's not necessarily a scam
08:23like for example the building management
08:25is really crappy or there are a lot of
08:28bed bugs and cockroaches and so on so
08:31yeah just take your time and you'll be
08:33surprised about how many things that you
08:34can find on google okay guys i hope that
08:36this video was useful to you let me know
08:39in the comments below if you have any
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