B.C. wildfire evacuee falls victim to rental scam

A B.C. woman who was ordered to evacuate due to a wildfire near her home in B.C.'s south Cariboo region says she has fallen prey to a rental scam.

Jennifer Fournier,whoowns a cat boarding and breeding business in 105 Mile House, said she went to an online classified service to find a place for her family and 18 cats after she was ordered to leave herrural home on Friday.

Fournierplaced an adon Kijijifor a place that could accommodate her boyfriend andfour-year-old daughter, as well as her cats, 11 of which are kittens.

She says shereceivedan offerfrom a couple living in Vernon, B.C. The womanclaimed to bea nurse, and her spouse said he was afirefighterworking on the wildfires.

"He [the husband]sent me pictures of the home, and it was likereally nice looking," said Fournier.

The couple told Fournierthe house could be rented for $700 a monthand her family and pets could stay as long as they needed.

"They [said they] just wanted to do something nice, because he had been in that kind of situation before," said Fournier.

Fourniersaid after texting the couple and making arrangements, shesent a $250 deposit. But she soonfelt uneasy with her decision, even though the property appeared on Google Maps. She asked a friend in the Vernon area to track it down.

"He drove there, and it was like a brand new lot. And there's like houses being built all around it. But that specific address did not exist," said Fournier.

Fournierasked the manto return the money and arranged for him to hand it to her friend in Vernon.

The man agreed to give back the money, she saidbut asked for another $200 to meet Fournier's friend. When Fournier refused to pay more and requested her money back again, the man disconnected his phone, she said.

Fourniercontacted her bank, and the CIBCfraud department told her itwould do itsbest to get her money back but couldn'tpromise her anything.

Fournier's husband, Eli Roy-Brown, says they fileda complaint with the Vernon RCMP who told him this type of crime is hard to prosecute and advised people to use PayPal when entering into these types of transactions.

"That's pretty horrible especially with everything I'm going through right now," said Fournier.

Meanwhile, friends of friends in Salmon Arm have offered Fournier a motor homeand shelter for her cats.

Owner of cattery claims she is a victim of rental scam and is in need of shelter for her 18 Bengal cats

7 years ago

Duration 0:10

Jennifer Founrier of 105 Mile House owns Apexpride cattery and took to Kijiji to find accommodations for herself, her boyfriend Eli Roy-Brown, four-year-old daughter and 18 Bengal cats including 11 kittens.