Rental Scams in the Vacation Rental Business

Unfortunately rental scams are on the rise for VR owners and we must be on the look out for these. I recently saw a news program that reported that most of these scammers are from Africa (Somalia & Nigeria) where scores of young people hit these run down internet cafes and start scamming all over the world. The email address will come from the UK to add fake credibility. In addition these are some additional key signs from my point of view that your inquiry may be a scam:

Basic Story goes like this:

•I am traveling with a Church group of 10 people
•I am a soldier coming home from the Iraq war
•I am a soldier based on a navy battleship
•I am a student etc
•I am a Doctor

Once you reply you will then be presented with an opportunity for the scammer to send you a cashiers check for more money than owed, and have you wire transfer them the overage amount.

The catch is that the cashiers check is fake, and it will take your bank some 3-4 days to inform you of this. Of course by this time you have sent your wire transfer to your new found buddy. That’s the scam.

Additional Warning Signs

Usually when these emails hit and they do not have a phone # (#1 warning of someone scamming or building a spam list…but not always the case as some legitimate folks refer email only).

The emails will use broken English (however English is becoming much better over the last year as graduates from the western schools have come back home)

Use of CAPs to grab your attention.

The grammar and English errors are usually very prevalent, but reference the point above.

The scammer may want to rent your property in the very near future (to give you less time to act and confirm) or will want to rent for a very long time frame. Sophisticated scammers will target areas out of season with this offer.

How to Handle Scammers:

First of all trust your instinct as it is usually right.

You do not have to respond. If you think it’s a scam and you respond all you have done is verified an email address that gets on a scammers spam list, and then shared/sold to other scammers.

Inform anyone that deposit checks must clear before any reservation, and that you offer credit cards (every VR owner must consider taking credit cards these days).

Never transfer any money to anybody until any check clears the bank. I don’t care of it’s a VR, a Car, a house etc.

Never accept a payment for more than the greed to amount

NEVER EVER give someone your checking account information as scammers will often time offer to wire in money directly to your checking account. The wire happens…not just in the direction you had imagined.

Report Scams to your advertising and listing sites for your VR

Use the internet to verify company names, phone numbers etc. Most companies have to be registered.

Managing Scam

Only the potential marks (that’s you & me) can combat scammers. Here are some resources to report potential scammers. I found a great site dedicated to stopping Nigerian Scams and have excerpted some of their context (http://home.rica.net/alphae/419coal/)

“If you are contacted by a scammers that offers to send you money ahead of time (known as Advance fee Fraud (419) you contact the US Secret Service at 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov Only No Loss reports are to be sent to this email address. The goal is to document the scammer and create a data base, the USSS does not respond to submissions to this address. United States Citizens and Residents who HAVE suffered a Financial Loss are instructed to contact the nearest Field Office of the United States Secret Service (USSS) by telephone. You may also file a Financial Loss complaint online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center “ [formerly the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) ]. This organization is a partnership of the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).