How to Spot Vacation Rental Scams

You love to travel and are looking for ways to do it inexpensively, so you look at online want ads or in newspapers for vacation rentals.  And there it is–what sounds like the ideal rental at the location you want and at a price that fits your budget. It even shows photos of the exterior.  It all looks authentic.

So how do you protect yourself?

What you may not realize at first is that the listing you see online is a total fake designed to trick you out of an up-front payment as well as a payment from everyone else who responds to the ad. Worse yet, the fraudster’s goal may be more than just getting money. He or she may be out to steal your identity!

1. If the ad includes an address, the first thing to do is go to Google Maps and enter the address. You may instantly discover that there is no such address–it does not exist.  Or you may see a totally different house at that address.  Obviously either of these is a big red flag that tells you it is a scam.

2. If, however, the photo matches the one in the ad, your next step is to do a search of the name of the person who is supposedly renting the home. It could be that the person running the ad is not the property owner or even authorized to rent the property. If the person claims to be a real estate agent representing the owner, insist on getting the name of the company he/she works for. Then do an agent search at that real estate company’s website.

3. Also do a search of any email addresses or phone numbers associated with the ad, then do a general search for the address on Google’s main search page. It may turn out that some fraudster is trying to rent a house that is actually listed for sale. And certain phone numbers have been identified with scams and frauds and they will show up on your search results. You may even find postings from other people who have been conned by the same person.

For vacation rentals I strongly advocate using reliable short term rental services like AirBnB or VRBO or major brand hotels in resort areas. They are very reliable companies and have rentals almost everywhere on the planet.

The bottom line, as you have heard time and again throughout your life: if it sounds too good to be true it is!

A Real Life Retirement

This isn’t exactly a real life retirement, but it is a true story. Several years ago I was looking at photos on Google Images and noticed one I had taken of the Community Center in Sun City Summerlin in Las Vegas. It’s a distinctive building, which you can see here, if you like.

But when I clicked on the photo, I discovered that it was being used by someone as a “photo” of a resort in Africa! My guess it that is was one of those Nigerian scammers, trying to make money with a vacation scam. The resort probably didn’t even exist at all.

The moral to this story is that even authentic-looking websites may be fraudulent. It is better to stick with well-known reliable companies.