A Victoria man who was arrested last month for a series of alleged rental scams was arrested again on Saturday as police said he was back at it, despite already racking up the fraud-related charges.
Victoria police released a photo of the suspect following his September arrest as they believed there may have been other victims in a string of sophisticated rental scams. At that time, that man was a suspect in at least nine fraud investigations that were estimated to cost multiple victims thousands of dollars.
On Saturday (Oct. 15), a person renting out a residential suite in James Bay called police and reported they had recently rented a suite to a man who refused to pay rent after recently moving in. The person also recognized the man from the photo released by police.
“The victim told officers that when they spoke with the man about the unpaid rent, the man told them not to call police and made concerning statements about what would happen if police were called,” VicPD said in a Monday (Oct. 17) statement.
The suspect’s identity was confirmed after police viewed surveillance footage, before officers went to the suite and arrested the man.
Police said during that arrest, they found identity and banking documents belonging to several other people, and evidence of additional rental frauds similar to those of which the suspect had been previously arrested.
The man was taken to VicPD cells and faces eight recommended charges including charges for fraud under $5,000, use of a forged document, forgery of a passport and five charges for failure to comply with probation conditions.
He was held for court.
Police said they’re concerned there may be more victims and asked that they contact VicPD at 250-995-7654, ext. 1.
READ: Police seek victims of prolific Victoria rental scams
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