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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Lunenburg are warning residents to be weary when looking to rent housing after reports of scams began surfacing.

RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay says that rental scams have been on the rise across the province recently and they are now seeing some fraudulent posts for accommodations in the Lunenburg area.

“We are seeing it more often, people post listings online with real photos they were able to locate on the internet, then they ask anyone interested to make a deposit,”.

The issue as Tremblay explained is that in these fraudulent cases, the listing is being put up by someone who doesn’t own the house and has no right to rent it. He says that in some cases people have arrived at what they believe to be their new accommodations, ready to move in only to discover someone else is already living in the property.

“They can be very pushy, asking for a deposit right away, saying there is lot’s of interest in the property,” said Cpl. Tremblay.

Although the ads can often be very convincing Tremblay says the best way to protect yourself is to view the property in person.