Most cottage rental scams follow the same pattern: a listing that looks real, a price that looks good, and a request to pay outside the booking site. Here is how to stay safe.
The one rule
Pay only through the Dock & Loon checkout on dockandloon.ca. Owners on Dock & Loon never need you to pay any other way.
Warning signs
- A request to pay by Interac e-Transfer, wire or bank transfer, Western Union or MoneyGram, gift cards or cryptocurrency.
- A request to pay “directly”, by PayPal, or through a link to another website.
- Pressure to decide fast, or a “discount” for paying off the site.
- An email address, phone number, outside chat app or outside link sent in place of a conversation on the site.
- A listing copied from another site, often with a different owner name or a price far below similar cottages.
What we do
- Held messages. Every message between a renter and an owner is checked for these signs before it is shown. If a message asks for payment off the site, or shares a link, phone number, email address or an outside chat app, it is held. The other person does not see its text, both people see a warning, and a person on our team decides whether to release it.
- D&L Checked. Booking opens only for cottages whose owner passed an ID check, an ownership-document check and a township check. See What D&L Checked means.
- Address after booking. The exact address is shared only after the owner confirms the booking, and arrival instructions from 48 hours before check-in.
- Card payments through Stripe. Your card details go straight to Stripe. We never see your full card number.
These steps lower the risk. No website can remove it entirely, so keep the rule above.
Check a cottage before you pay
Found a cottage somewhere else? Use our free Check a cottage tool. Paste the listing link, choose the township or type a licence number, and see what the township’s rules say and whether a licence can be looked up.
If something feels wrong
- Do not pay.
- Tell us through the contact page (topic “A payment or scam concern”).
- If you already paid, call your bank or card issuer at once.
- You can also report fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and your local police.