An online scheme may be using Swift Current property as bait.

The scheme involves someone claiming to be a landlord living in America while renting property in Swift Current - a house not owned by the alleged scammer.

Anna Elias claims that her stepdaughter recently fell victim to the scam, putting her step daughter's family in a tricky situation.

Elias claims that the house was listed for sale at the time, but the perpetrator of the fraud claimed that they had listed the property, and would unlist it if they found long-term tenants, something Jayd Norton, her  stepdaughter, and Norton's fiance, who are parents to a two-year-old child, were willing to do.

"They would take it off the market for them if they were planning on staying for more than a year. It all sounded so legit, so they went through with everything without contacting a real estate agent to make sure that this is legit, and we later found out that the owners are still living in the house, and it’s up for sale. These owners are not even out of town."

She says that the perpetrator asked Norton to send $800 to them before sending them back the keys to the property.

After receiving the money, Elias said that the individual claimed that they would need another $1200 before sending the keys, which Norton refused to do.

Elias said she thought her stepdaughter was part of a targeted demographic for this scheme.

"This guy is obviously a pro at what he's doing because he's targeting young couples, and it seems like he's targeting more of the women."

Commenting on the effect that this will have on Norton's, Elias said that this had derailed their plans of moving to Swift Current.

"You know they're struggling as it is, and they were trying to get back to where she's originally from because she grew up in Swift here and she wanted to bring her family here and start fresh, and here somebody just shattered their whole [chance of] success of trying to make this happen."

After realizing they had been scammed, Elias said Norton reported it to their local RCMP in Esterhazy.

Elias said that she was disappointed by the amount of support offered to the victims by the RCMP.

"They said that it was stupid on their behalf to send the money out to this guy without looking into it and looking at the house and stuff, so we're not getting any help from the RCMP which is very disappointing, they are supposed to be responsible to catch these guys, if they are committing crime like this, how many people are they scamming out of money?" she commented. "How many young couples are sitting there with nothing now that could potentially go homeless?"

Elias said her stepdaughter is also three months pregnant with another child.

Esterhazy RCMP confirmed that they had received the report, and Swift Current Municipal RCMP say that they have not heard of any reports of similar fraudulent activity.

Elias added that if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is, and she encouraged those looking to rent to investigate before jumping at an opportunity.