How to escape Toronto moving scams?

How to escape Toronto moving scams?

As if moving wasn’t difficult enough. And as if hiring movers wasn’t a stressful enough process. All you needed on top of it all was a chance of someone scamming you and robbing you of your hard-earned money. Fortunately, we know plenty of these scoundrels and we will hopefully help a bunch of you guys to evade them. However, they can be tricky. And they can be very clever. Furthermore, the moving industry has grown quite a bit, all over the globe. With the growth of this industry, so too did grow the number of potential frauds trying to snatch away your money. With so many of them stepping up we learned that there is an increasing number of ways they scam you for money. So, if you wish to avoid a Toronto moving scam, pay close attention to what we have to say!

Toronto moving scam artists

Given the complexity of the moving industry, and the size of the market – the variety of frauds is immense. It is irrelevant whether we are talking about local moving Toronto or long distance movers – frauds can be found everywhere. The biggest issue they have is when they are attempting to scam someone who knows what to look for. So throughout this text, we will be covering some most frequent (and most dangerous) types of Toronto moving scam attempts. We will also point out a few signals that you should look out for. We are confident that if you are careful at the start, and heed our advice, you are almost at no risk of being scammed. Furthermore, we will classify these frauds into our own, homemade categories based on what their scam is like.

Luckily for you, there are numerous professional movers in Toronto with whom there will be no mistake. Seek them out. Talk to them. Interview them and ultimately, hire them.

Pro tip – use the internet

Basically, one of the biggest difficulties Toronto moving scam artists have is their exposure on the internet. Basically, it is difficult to do something wrong in this world without leaving a digital fingerprint online. So, back to their problem, any Toronto moving scam artist who attempted a scam (and may or may not have succeeded) will have one angry person writing about them online. Specifically for this, there are countless online forums where people express their positive or negative experiences. The biggest challenge thereafter lays behind the fact that each time they do a scam, whether they are successful or not, they need to change the name of the company. With that, they need a new website, phone number, and all that good stuff. For this reason, usually, they try to do it only once, since its too much work to do it again.

Still, be informed. Go online. If you find a potential candidate you might consider hiring, read about them online and see if there are any bad words moving. Likewise, you might find a lot of positive feedback about a mover you are considering to hire. This might lead to an easier decision on your behalf. Either way, do not choose ignorance.

Here is where you can send the deposit…

The danger these types of frauds pose lies behind the simplicity of it. In most cases, they will look incredibly legit. The only distinctive feature they might or might not have is the fact that they will usually be a startup. As being a fresh, young new company they might have very appealing, low prices. Sadly, if something is too good to be true, it usually isn’t. Still, this is not us saying that you need to decide against any startup. We were a startup too at one point. So give them a chance. The only thing we are trying to point out that these types of frauds are usually startups. 

The reason they are startups is the fact that they usually can’t pull off this type of fraud more than once, under a single name. To break it down, they do something that usually no moving company does – they ask for a payment in advance. No serious moving company will ever do this. They would ask for a deposit, you’d end up paying it and that’s that. You’d never see them again. So in order to avoid them, avoid paying deposits. Simple as that.

You know, we kind of no longer have available trucks for today…

This is a standard type of a fraud you might become a victim of. Sadly, there is no way to prevent it once it occurs. For instance, when other companies ask for a deposit you can decide not to pay it and that would be the end of it. When this occurs, you are left with an issue that needs to be resolved immediately. The only way to get out of it is prevention. And the only way you can achieve this prevention is as if you find something about it online. If they want to attempt it on you chances are they have already attempted it on someone else.

The fraud is as follows. Everything would seem legit and in order. You’d have them over, they would be professional, and you’d get a normal price. However, when the day of the move comes, all of a sudden you will receive a call stating that they no longer have moving trucks available for that day. Alternatively, if you pay extra they might reroute one, but if not they will be available 3-4 days from the agreed one. If this happens to you, you are more or less stuck and have no option but to pay the extra fee.

Your belongings were taken hostage

This here is a theft felony and this is not something you should be dealing on your own. If you receive notice that your stuff has been taken hostage and that you need to pay a ransom to have your stuff back you should notify the police immediately.