Toronto Condo Scam: Westlake Condos Etobicoke

http://www.condominiumtoronto.com

Like many others across Ontario and beyond, Claire Hay was looking to rent a Condo unit in Toronto. Realizing the pricing was slightly out of her budget, she set her sights upon the Greater Toronto Region. After countless hours browsing rental sites like Kijiji, she finally found a place that seemed perfect. Unit 814 in Westlake Condos, $1300 a month for a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom all inclusive condo with a great view. She booked an appointment to view it immediately.

A video Femi sent to potential renters, featuring a short tour of the condo unit. A female, identified as Femi's girlfriend, Jaclyn Appugliesi can be seen in the kitchen.

Photo of Femi Agunbiade
From his site AG7Media

The day of the condo tour everything seemed great, Claire met a man who introduced himself as Femi Agunbiade, the owner of the condo. She fell in love with the place and was told  if she could eTransfer first and last months payments she could move in the following week. She obliged and eTransfered Femi Agunbiade $2600 that day.

Femi keeping up the Charade via Text

Over the following days everything seemed to be perfect, Femi kept up communication with Claire, claiming to have rented the moving elevator for her and going above and beyond to make her move as seamless as possible. However, things were about to change drastically.

Claire's Facebook Posting

Claire found another advertisement for the very same condominium unit she had already paid for on Kijiji. She had a friend message the poster and it turned out to be Femi Agunbiade, attempting to schedule a viewing for the condo. Claire became suspicious after she was unable to contact Femi over the phone so she showed up at the concierge desk and asked about the unit. Quickly she became aware that Femi Agunbiade was renting the unit himself, and he had no authority to rent the unit out to anyone.

Femi asks for an Apology and removal of the posting

Immediately Claire reached out to a Toronto Renter's Facebook group, asking if anyone else had contact with Femi and/or the specific condo unit.  She never could've predicted what would happen next. Along with a dozen or so messages from people claiming they also had spoken with Femi about renting the very same unit, Femi himself reached out to her and promised to return her money if she would remove the post.

The eTransfer came through minutes after they arranged to meet in person

Luckily, Claire was able to get her money back. However, once she got her money back she filed a fraud report with the Toronto Regional Police. She was notified that a complaint against Femi Agunbiade was made several months ago but nothing came of it due to a lack of evidence. Claire now had evidence to give the officers and help build the case. She also posted the exchange to the Facebook group.

Media outlets started contacting her after seeing her story play out through the Facebook group which has over 100,000 members. The story quickly gained traction and was the top story at 6PM with Global Media.


Global News Report

The media latched onto the story, and thanks to some impressive investigative work it quickly spiraled into a much larger situation than anyone could've predicted. After interviewing Claire as well as a couple other people who claimed they had also had contact with Femi Agunbiade, it was revealed that his brother Jide Agunbiade was also involved in the scam. There were not one but two condo units being used in the scam, one being rented by Femi and the other being rented by Jide, both within the same complex but in different towers.

If you viewed (and/or paid for) the Westlake Condos owned by either Jide or Femi please contact the Toronto Regional Police Department Here The case is under Division 22's jurisdiction, you can contact them by phone: 416-808-2200 or in person at 3699 Bloor St. W, Toronto, ON. The case is being managed by Constable Cornelus Gutter of the Fraud department, and he can be reached directly at cornelus.gutter@torontopolice.ca


It appears as though Femi and Jide are not new to defrauding people of their money, through research I was able to uncover not one but two fraudulent companies run by the brothers. Read more on those here: AG7Media & AG7Global

After the news went public, both Femi and Jide cleared out their storage lockers and skipped town. If you see these men, please don't hesitate to contact police.

July 2018 Update

A warrant was issued and Femi was arrested upon re-entering Canada. He posted bail and a court date will be set.