A 28-year-old man is facing fraud charges after police allege he repeatedly rented out a Halifax parking spot that wasn’t his.
On Sept. 12, 2017, police received a complaint from a woman who said she responded to a Kijiji ad for a parking spot for rent at 5296 Kent St. in Halifax’s south end. She transferred $450 to the person who posted the ad and began parking her vehicle in the spot.
The person who actually owned the spot told her she was not allowed to park there and the Kijiji post was a scam.
After police notified the public of the scam, three more people came forward to report they had also been scammed.
Investigators found that in all four incidents, money was transferred to the same email address.
On Thursday, Halifax Regional Police investigators with the financial crime unit charged a 28-year-old Halifax man with four fraud-related offences and one count of breaching a court order.
He is scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court on Feb. 27.
Det. Const. Dave Comer said police are also looking for a second man.
He advised people to “be wary” and do a little research and due diligence before agreeing to a transaction after seeing an ad online. He said fraudsters have been known to falsely advertise apartments or parking spots.
“If the parking spot is, for example, behind a building, actually just go in and talk to the building manager and say, ‘Are these spots actually for sale or for rent?'” Comer said.
He also said people should be cautious about accepting e-transfers for other people because if it’s a scam, they could be responsible or be helping a scammer out.
Read the full story over at Global News.
