How to deal with online vacation rental scams

Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:
man hacking a back card
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

A rental room scam is the perfect way to ruin any traveler’s vacation, as phishing scams have become prevalent.

With the holiday season quickly approaching, travelers should be mindful of the many scams online through popular rental services such as Vrbo, Airbnb, Hotels.com and TripAdvisor.

An Iowa family reported a scam when booking a rental room through Vrbo. What turned out to be a fake profile listed a room that was not available by the homeowner.

Once the family entered the home, they discovered the beds weren’t made and dirty dishes in the kitchen sink with the homeowner out of town.

A friend of the homeowner was asked to check on the home where he found the family trespassing. After the confusion cleared up, both parties realized they had been victims of a phishing scam.

Vrbo said that the homeowner’s house was mistakenly listed and has been removed from the platform. The company also suspended the scam account and refunded the family.

The Better Business Bureau says they have seen thousands of vacation scams.

To prevent future vacation rental scams, Vrbo has listed several tips for customers to use when planning their vacation rental room.

Here is some helpful information when searching for a rental property:

  • Be mindful of incorrect or strange URLs
  • If a listing requests payment outside of the platform you’re using, avoid payment and report them. Also, avoid fake emails
  • Be aware of misspelling or incorrect grammar. Fake websites will often contain misspellings or incorrect words.
  • Low-resolution images: if the quality of the image is blurry or pixelated, chances are the listing is fake.
  • If the pricing is much lower than anticipated. The old adage of “If it’s too good to be true, then it isn’t” applies to listings with dirt-cheap pricing. It’s important to be savvy when hunting for rentals to discern from cheap prices from the outright outrageous “deals.”
  • Be cautious of new listings or accounts with zero reviews. New accounts have to start from somewhere, but it’s important to know that illegitimate accounts always pop up.

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