Avoid Getting Scammed by Fake Guests

The Internet is a wonderful advertising medium to use in promoting your vacation rental business. However, with the wonderful comes the bad…and in this discussion, the bad is called a scammer. Hopefully you will never have to come in contact with one of these horrible people who are only out to make a few bucks off of you, but if you do, read on to find out how to handle the situation so that you and your property are kept safe.

There are different forms of scams out there, and most can work with any business. It doesn’t matter if you are renting out your second home or selling candles online, these people know how to make their conniving methods work around whatever they are trying to scam. There are many potential red flags that be seen when they begin communicating with you, and like I have said in the past, trust your instincts on dealing with anyone who contacts you!

A good deal of the scamming inquiries you will receive will have a lot of broken and incorrect English. Keep in mind this isn’t the only way, but I have saw this type more than the others. The potential customer may want you to accept a check from his company for an extended stay at your vacation rental (i.e., 2-3 months). Others may try to send you a money order, often valued over the amount of the stay. They will want you to mail the remainder of the payment on to a family member or friend, and will list various reasons as to why you should do that for them (cousin is ill, nephew needs money for college, etc.) The note will generally have a sense of urgency to it, which may trip up some owners, and have them hastily agreeing with the scammer.

Other signs to look for when receiving strange inquiries:

-The sender will not really talk much about your property, and may even make an incorrect reference (Example: Says “I really need this spacious apartment for 5 months” when you are renting a home. Another Ex: Says “The porch looks nice” when there isn’t a porch). True, the sender may have your home confused with another, especially if they have looked at many before speaking to you, but you can usually tell when someone’s made a mistake and when they have no clue what your vacation home looks like or offers.

-The sender wants to pay immediately for other people to stay in your rental (“My 3 cousins need a place to stay for X months, and I want to pay by a money order/check/etc. right away). This could be legit, but lodging is not usually something to hurriedly book and pay for.

Related posts:

1. Ways to Avoid Refunding Unhappy Vacation Rental Guests By drewsaunders - Flickr Do You Have a Refund Policy?...

August 20th, 2008 Posted by admin | VR Scams | one comment