Whistler rental scam probed by RCMP

Last Updated: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | 2:07 PM ET

The Canadian Press

RCMP have launched a fraud investigation after a New York couple hoping to see their son go for gold at the Olympics lost $8,000 in a rental scam in Whistler, B.C.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Steve LeClair says Ben and Lois Mesler thought they'd rented a home in the resort town after placing a classified ad on Rent2010.net.

But he says the place didn't belong to the supposed homeowner and now the Meslers have nowhere else to stay. They'd planned to watch their son Steve Mesler compete on the U.S. men's bobsled team.

Mark Szekely, who operates the online rental site, says a man calling himself Jason Hartlen responded to the Meslers' ad and collected the money.

Szekely says the man wasn't registered with the site so he can't track him down.

Medal Count

Top 10 Medal Winners

Country				Total
UNITED STATES	9	15	13	37
GERMANY	10	13	7	30
CANADA	14	7	5	26
NORWAY	9	8	6	23
AUSTRIA	4	6	6	16
RUSSIA	3	5	7	15
SOUTH KOREA	6	6	2	14
CHINA	5	2	4	11
SWEDEN	5	2	4	11
FRANCE	2	3	6	11

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