A man was arrested on Saturday in connection to numerous incidents of rental fraud while allegedly committing another act of rental fraud.
VicPD put a call out to the public in late September to help them locate a man they had caught on camera in connection to several rental fraud incidents.
Police say he has a scheme where he would fraudulently post suites for rent they had no connection to on Craigslist, meet with victims to show them the apartment, take a damage deposit from the victims, then disappear with the money.
He was caught in the act by a property manager who had figured out what they were doing and later seen in public by a victim, resulting in his arrest.
Related:
Police search for more victims of sophisticated rental fraud in Victoria area
On Saturday, that suspect was recognized by an additional victim who called the police.
The victim who called the police was renting out a suite in a multi-unit residential building in the 600-block of Toronto Street. The victim had rented a suite to the suspect, who refused to pay them rent.
According to police, the victim told officers that when they spoke with the man about the unpaid rent, the man threatened them not to call police and scared them with statements about what would happen if the victim did call the police.
The victim recognized him as the fraudster VicPD had made a community update about in September and called police.
Officers arrived on the scene shortly after they were called and they arrested the suspect.
During the arrest, police say they found banking documents belonging to several other people and additional evidence of ongoing rental frauds similar to those for which he had been arrested before.
The suspect was taken to VicPD and officers recommended eight charges including fraud under $5,000, use of a forged document, forgery of a passport and five counts of failure to comply with probation conditions.
He was held in VicPD cells for morning court.
The investigation remains ongoing as officers are concerned that there may be more victims who have yet to come forward.
If you have information and have not spoken with officers yet, call the VicPD at (250) 995-7654.
Investigators are concerned that there may be additional victims who have yet to come forward. If you recognize this man pls call (250) 995-7654 ext 1. #yyj pic.twitter.com/BDJ3jRjJeG
— Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) October 17, 2022
