With some 5,000 students on the waitlist for on-campus housing at UBC, the Better Business Bureau has a warning for students still scrambling to find housing in Metro Vancouver.

“You’ve really got to do your homework,” said Evan Kelly, senior communications advisor for BBB serving mainland B.C. “Know your market. A lot of these ads are really too good to be true.”

Kelly said the bureau has found that young people are about as likely to be the victims of scams as more traditional targets such as the elderly and immigrants.

Among the housing scams Kelly said his organization has seen in Metro Vancouver are fake potential roommates, who respond to online ads saying they’re out of the country, offering to send a money order for more than the necessary amount and asking for the extra money to be sent back. Then the cheque bounces.

Another scam involves people posing as landlords, saying they’re out of town and asking potential tenants to send them money in exchange for keys that never actually arrive.

Kelly said the key to avoid falling for scams of all sorts is to understand that if something sounds “too good to be true,” it likely is.

When it comes to housing scams, specifically, a personal connection is important, he said.

“You want to meet the people, of course,” Kelly said. “You want to go to the residence. You want to be in there looking at it.”

Scammers tend to come out of the woodwork when there’s “demand and a sense of urgency,” Kelly said. While the housing situation in Vancouver is dire, it’s important for renters not to let their guard down.

“Especially in a hot market like Vancouver ... people want to take more of a chance than they normally would,” he said.