Airbnb hosts the latest target of alleged fraudsters seeking to steal identities, get mortgages

Imagine temporarily renting out your home on a short-term rental platform like Airbnb. 

Except, instead of receiving a five-star rating from the person you rent it to, they steal your identity and take out a mortgage worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on your home — without your knowledge or consent.

That's exactly what investigators with the Toronto Police Service (TPS) are alleging a group of fraudsters is doing. It's allegedly the latest iteration of mortgage and title fraud scams targeting unsuspecting homeowners in the Greater Toronto Area, and costing insurers millions of dollars in claims.

On May 25, 42-year-old Jay Allen MacDougall was arrested and charged with five counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of laundering the proceeds of crime. 

Police allege MacDougall used a fake name to rent a home on an online short-term rental app and obtained the homeowner's identity information while inside. According to police, MacDougall then allegedly used that information to impersonate the homeowner and secure a mortgage from a private lender, making away with the proceeds.

MacDougall attempted to take out approximately $2.5 million worth of fraudulent mortgages on at least five homes, CBC Toronto has learned from multiple sources close to the investigation. While some of the alleged frauds were detected before money changed hands, one of the sources told CBC that lenders involved incurred actual losses of around $1 million.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

"It took a lot of ingenuity," Det. Dave Coffey of the TPS financial crimes unit said in an interview. 

"We believe there are other people involved. He was not working alone and this is an active investigation."

A spokesperson for Airbnb said in a statement that the company is investigating.

"Helping our community to stay protected against scams is a priority for us. This kind of activity has no place on Airbnb, and we are currently investigating this report," the spokesperson said.

CBC Toronto published a series of reports earlier this year detailing how dozens of homes in the GTA have had mortgages placed on them without owners' consent or have been sold without their knowledge.

Often, these mortgage and title fraud scams involve organized crime groups paying "stand-ins" who use fake documents to pose as tenants so they can gain access to properties, and then paying others to impersonate homeowners to mortgage or sell the houses.

Authorities note that fraudsters often need physical access to the home to obtain identity documents, to conduct an appraisal, or to show the home to prospective buyers.