A young Vancouver family is putting out a warning to prospective renters after losing hundreds of dollars in an apparent listing scam on Craigslist.

Ruthzie Villareal and her husband found a deal on the site that, in Vancouver's pricey rental market, sounds almost too good to be true: a three-bedroom basement suite in the 500-block of 51st Avenue for $900 per month.

The ad promises a home "close to shopping transit and school. verry good shape (sic)."

Villareal, who has two young daughters, says she visited the house three times before putting down a deposit. During each visit she met a man who identified himself as Parminder Rai and said he was renting the suite on behalf of the owner.

"He was there, and then every time you phone him he's there. It's a house phone," Villareal said.

The family was meant to move in on Saturday, but when they arrived with the moving truck they were told another tenant had just moved in.

CTV News also spoke with a third family who said they paid a damage deposit on the home weeks ago. When they showed up, they were also told another family was in the process of moving in.

Adding insult to injury, the listing was just reposted on Craigslist again on Friday.

Villareal has filed a police report, but was told not to get her hopes up. The family is now frantically looking for a new home, having already given notice to their current landlord that they'd be out by the end of the month.

"You can say that I'm desperate," Villareal said. "I have two kids. Where can I go after here?"

CTV News tried phoning and visiting the landlord, but received no response.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Penny Daflos