Home listed for sale in Toronto without owner's knowledge

Scams have become an all too common threat when navigating Toronto's rental system, and it seems like some fraudsters have figured out how to infiltrate the housing market as well. 

When a Toronto homeowner moved into a long-term care home in 2021, his family decided to rent out the house he's owned near The Beaches since the 1970s. 

According to CBC, two real estate agents at Royal LePage brokerage helped the family find and screen tenants in December 2021. 

A few weeks later, the family was horrified when they found out that the tenants had used fake identity documents and references on their lease application. 

After the lease agreement was signed, the family also found out that someone posing as the homeowner hired agents from another brokerage to list the house for sale, according to CBC. 

The family was fortunately able to put a stop to the attempted scam before the house successfully sold. 

This isn't the first time scammers in Toronto have attempted to fradulently sell real estate that doesn't belong to them. 

On Jan. 5, the Toronto Police Service requested the public's assistance in identifying two people involved in a similar mortgage fraud investigation. 

According to police, homeowners of a Toronto property were out of the country in January 2022. 

Two people impersonating the homeowners then hired a real estate agent, and the property was listed for sale and sold. Several months after the sale of the property, the real homeowners were shocked to discover that their property was sold without their consent. 

In regard to the most recent incident, a spokesperson for Royal LePage told CBC that it doesn't govern day-to-day operations at its brokerages. Licensed sales representatives are also obligated to abide by industry regulations and to perform due diligence. 

"This very unfortunate incident was clearly a coordinated scheme aiming to take advantage of real estate professionals and an innocent family," communications director Anne-Elise Cugliari Allegritti told CBC. 

"The Royal LePage agents in question followed all due protocol and had no reason to suspect that any suspicious activity had taken place."