Kinds of Vacation Home Scams

The travel industry saw a steady growth in the vacation rental market in 2011. Judging from recent travel industry surveys, this trend will almost certainly continue on thru 2012 and beyond. As with any industry or business however, anything that makes money always attracts unscrupulous characters out to make a fast buck. Holiday rental owners and rental seekers alike have both been targets of various vacation rental scams.
Rental Owners
Holiday rental owners and property managers should be aware that there had been an increasing number of reported cases involving scammers from Nigeria that pose as legitimate vacation rental seekers. They will send an email inquiry and engage you in very friendly discussions about the property details, payment modes etc. Either of the following will happen next:

·        They will then send you a check for more than the agreed amount and later say they made a mistake so would you please wire back the extra money as soon as possible.

·        They will send a check for the agreed duration of say 1 month even if their supposed vacation is still several months away. After a few days, they will send another email informing you that they cannot stay the full month after all and would you please refund the extra 2 weeks. It doesn't matter if you charge them some fees for the cancellation. They understand that those are the policies. They are sorry for the inconvenience and that they hope to see you as soon as they arrive, but please to wire the money back ASAP.
The check they sent you does not belong to them. It would have been stolen from somebody else. It takes the bank several weeks to figure out that the check should not have cleared the first time you cashed it, so they take the money back from YOUR account this time. By the time all these comes to light, the refund money you sent would have been long gone. Whatever you do, do not accept check payments, or if you have no choice, simply do not cash it right away so that you will not be compelled to send any refunds.
Rental Seekers
These days it is very easy for vacationers to hit the internet and search for their next dream vacation home halfway around the world. Unfortunately, with the same technology available to us, it is just as easy for sophisticated scammers to do one of the following:
·        List real homes on popular (and free) Classified Ads websites like Craigslist or legitimate vacation-rental-by-owner sites. Many if not all of these websites are not accountable for the information they post.

·        Put up many bogus websites with listings of non-existent homes using actual photographs of beautiful houses in far away places.
·        “Clone” legitimate vacation rental sites and pretend to be the real owners. Their website will look exactly like the real thing except for the contact details.
Like spiders they will quietly sit by, literally waiting for the proverbial unsuspecting “fly” to send them an email inquiry. As fake rental home owners, they will be very gracious and accommodating. They might throw in some perks like free maid service, a fully stocked kitchen, an extra night etc. They will engage you in full and lengthy discussions in an effort to learn as much about you as they can, and they will also give you a lot of (unnecessary) details about themselves and the rental home you're interested in. All these are designed to get you to trust them enough to be willing to send a partial deposit or worse, full payment. Of course as soon as they get your payment, you won't hear from them ever again. And the worst thing that could happen to you is to fly all the way out to your dream holiday home only to find out that it doesn't exist!
Whether you're a rental home owner or looking to rent one, it is best to arm yourself with information about the kinds of vacation rental scams out there. Forewarned is forearmed.