Two women who lost money to a Prince Edward Island cottage rental scam are sounding the alarm.
They say the perpetrator reached out to them through the P.E.I. Cottage Rentals Facebook page, promised a cottage rental and took their money, and then completely shut off all communication with them.
Jenna Lightfoot, who thought she was renting a cottage in Bonshaw, said she couldn’t believe someone would actually do this.
“I was upset and angry, because as an Islander you tend to trust people, big time,” she said.
Lightfoot said the person reached out to her in a private message after she posted on the Facebook page that she was looking for a cottage to rent on the Island for July. They exchanged phone calls, texts and emails, which included images of the property in Bonshaw and a business reference.
Feeling it was safe to book, Lightfoot paid for the rental through the Square platform and received an email receipt.
“She seemed legit. She provided me her business licence, she provided me where she worked, and I’m like ‘Okay, someone’s not going to scam me if they’re telling me where they work because they know I can find them.'”
But shortly after booking, Lightfoot said she saw Facebook posts from other people claiming that the person offering the Bonshaw rental should not be trusted. Others described a pattern of reservations being cancelled at the last minute for reasons such as the detection of bed bugs, followed by no communication from the apparent host.
