The Better Business Bureau is once again warning those planning to relocate to be aware of moving scams.
Kristin Matthews, Marketing and Communications Manager for the BBB in the Atlantic provinces says moving scams are becoming a growing problem and she’s urging people planning a move to do their research and due diligence.
She says many scammers advertise online and offer quotes that seem very affordable.
She says the first red flag is that when the scammers arrive, usually in a truck with no branding and a crew who don’t have uniforms.
She says they are often very nice, with good customer service but once the items have been loaded on the truck the driver usually rushes to get the customer to sign the paperwork without reading it over or leaving a copy and the items are already gone before the customer realises what just happened.
Days, or even weeks later the scammer calls the customer asking them to pay up to get their items delivered.
Matthews says essentially the scammer is holding the customer’s belongings hostage until they get the money they’re looking for—often thousands of dollars more than the amount originally quoted.