Typically, fraudsters will attempt to organize a transaction that is not face-to-face. The following is an example of a common reply you might receive:
"Dear Tenant to be, I got your mail and Thanks for your interest in my Home for rent, i work with adastra corporation (www.adastragrp.com), we specialize in Data Warehousing, Business Intelligence, Data Integration, and Master Data Management solutions, we have branches in Bratislava, Ostrava, Sofia, Frankfurt, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Africa and our headquarter is located in Canada, i was recently transferred to the company's new branch in Nigeria so am here in (West Africa) with my family and i must say, Africa has being a great place to live am settled here with my family and work has being so good over here. I intend selling the place but my wife and lawyer convinced me not to sell it so we are looking for a responsible person to rent our home while will stay in Africa. we are with the keys and the necessary documentation of our house here in Africa because the last agent we registered with almost sold all our property in our home so please note that you wont be able to view the inside of our home until we send the keys and documents to you but you can go and view the outside or drive-by. the monthly rent includes the utilities. So please, if you are interested in renting our home, i want you to fill out the application form below."
If you do receive any such replies, please
contact Kijiji so we can remove their access to our site and keep them from trying this on others.
The best rule of thumb while using Kijiji is to meet up with the person you are communicating with the good old fashioned way:
face-to-face!
Trading during COVID-19
In order to help ensure the health and safety of our Kijiji Community, it is important to observe and apply protocols outlined by Health Canada when trading with other users of Kijiji. Your well-being remains our top priority. Please seriously consider whether in-person meetings are necessary.
If the transaction you’re making is necessary, please consider the following options:
- Cashless Payment: Please consider choosing your preferred third party, secure cashless payment method.
- Curbside pickup / Drop-off / Delivery: This can be a great alternative to shipping and allows both buyer and seller to inspect the item and make an exchange, all while observing social-distancing protocols.
Other things to consider:
- Remote Inspections / Video Chat(s) / Virtual Tour(s) (Long Terms Rentals): Remote inspections via your preferred video conferencing call service, enables Community Members to discuss the transaction, while observing social-distancing protocols; Community Members can also send additional images, to show features/condition.
- Online Applications in Long Term Rentals: Online applications for rental agreements enable the landlord and applicant to interact while observing social-distancing protocols. Be careful of applications that request information such as Age, Occupation, Income, Gender and more sensitive information such as bank or SIN card numbers. These can often be attempts to steal information. Please note that Kijiji does not facilitate online applications and we are not involved in any agreements made between the landlord and applicant.
- Clean / Disinfect Items: We recommend cleaning items before and after a transaction as per the Health Canada page on Coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention. Please visit Health Canada to learn more about precautions to take at this time.
