Jason Emiry
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 01, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Apartment hunting in Yellowknife can be difficult but when an ad promises a newly-remodeled two-bedroom apartment for $400, renters might think they have hit the jackpot.

Not only was the price right but the apartment included a washer and dryer, dishwasher, furniture, full bathroom and utilities all included in the modest price.

This story was supposed to appear in the hardcopy version of Friday's Yellowknifer, but it didn't. An updated version will be printed in Wednesday's Yellowknifer

The ad, which ran in Monday's News/North classifieds, said pet owners and smokers were also allowed to rent the space. Northern News Services pulled the ad from future publications as soon as it was discovered that it was fraudulent.

Yellowknife resident Dorothy Westerman was intrigued by the ad and made contact with the person renting. She e-mailed the address in the notice.

The respondent answered with details about the house and the address. It turned out the address was for a house that belonged to someone else.

"He gave me a street address here in Yellowknife," said Westerman. "I called city hall to see if it was a legitimate address. I explained to them the situation."

City hall checked the address.

"They gave me the person's name, who I subsequently looked up in the telephone book," said Westerman. "I contacted them. The owner of the house had no idea what was going on. They actually had their home for sale in the newspaper. We were thinking that what happened is (the culprit) had seen the newspaper and gotten their address and used their address. I forwarded the e-mail correspondence to the RCMP."

When she finished talking with the RCMP she received another e-mail from the supposed property owner.

"He e-mailed me back again with Western Union transfer information to send $400. This is a terrible thing to do to someone."

The culprit claimed to be a Christian minister by the name of Tony Craig and later Bob Duran in his e-mails, stating he was a priest with the mission of St. Paul in Vancouver, B.C.

He told Westerman that he was in West Africa on a missionary call. His main concern was finding a good person to take care of the property, he wrote. He said he had the keys with him in West Africa, and that he would forward her the keys via FedEx as soon as she transferred $400 through Western Union.

"Who's to say (what would happen) if someone fell for this scam," said Westerman. "They would go knocking on this person's door. This poor couple selling their house would have no idea what was going on. That in itself is very bold."

The RCMP is not seeing a rash of frauds like this but consumers should be careful nonetheless, said Const. Roxanne Dreilich.

"We certainly haven't had any other similar reports. It's one of those general cautionary things," said Dreilich. "If you're doing business over the Internet it's buyer beware. If it looks too good, it probably is."

-30-