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mmatchev
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Post subject: Two Primary Vacation Rental Scams  Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 9:47 pm |
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Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 3:00 pm
Posts: 27
Location: Germany
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There are essentially 2 main vacation rental scams. Be aware of them and do whatever you need to do to protect yourself from them.
1) A fake “renter” contacts a real owner and requests to rent the property. The fake renter then sends a check to the owner as a security deposit to rent the property. But they write a check that exceeds the proper amount of security deposit. The fake renter then waits a few days until the owner cashes the check, then contacts the owner and says they overpaid, and pleads for a refund in the amount overpaid… usually by telling the owner to send the refund of the amount overpaid via Western Union, and usually to Nigeria or Central Africa. A few days later, the check that the fake renter from Nigeria gave you will bounce… and so you are out that money, and you are also out of the money you just sent them via Western Union.
2) A fake “owner” will post their rental property on a rental property directory website. However, the rental listing is a fake. Usually fake address, fake pictures, fake place. But the email and phone number will be real, so they get contacted. The rental seeking victim then contacts the fake owner and requests to book the place. Of course it’s available. The owner then requests a security depost and sends the contract. The renter sends a security deposit, then shows up but there’s no such place available for rent.
For this second type of scam, USUALLY the biggest barrier for the scammer is that they have to PAY to join a vacation rental directory website… Most sites are about $150 USD per year, usually too steep of a price for these such scammers. However it leaves the free rental sites wide open for these kind of scammers to sign up and try to scam someone. So please be on the lookout and very careful of this type of scam when seeking a rental.
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leklek
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Post subject: Re: Two Primary Vacation Rental Scams Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:58 am |
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Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:18 am
Posts: 10
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I wish vacation rental website owners have more heart to check fake
vacation rental owners.
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ray1223
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Post subject: Re: Two Primary Vacation Rental Scams Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 10:02 pm |
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Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:32 pm
Posts: 2
Location: Florida
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>I wish vacation rental website owners have more heart to check fake
>vacation rental owners.
I run a free Florida Vacation listings website and that's one of my biggest fears is someone posting does not own the property. I do several checks on the requester in the back ground. I did suspect one of the requesters and did not list their property.
I do believe if you’re running a website that lists for free then you should do due diligence to at check out the requester.
I have a friend that found a place on VRBO. When she arrived at her vacation rental the home was in a less desirable location and never stayed there. She lost her rental money. The description on VRBO did not match the property. You always have beware no matter where the rental comes from.
But then again you have Craigslist that does no checking on rental listings.
_________________ Free Florida Vacation Rental Listingshttp://floridavacationrentalsite.com/
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SamTHorn
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Post subject: Re: Two Primary Vacation Rental Scams Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 7:05 pm |
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Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2010 10:22 pm
Posts: 3
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Thank you very much for these tips. This couldn't have come at a better time.
~ Sam
_________________ miami hotels
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