Craigslist is not the only place vacation rental fraud occurs. Scam artists are getting more daring. Recently we picked up an article from the Daily Times about an incident with a portal.
Linda Leming Whitehead went to AlwaysOnVacation.com, and rented a home for her family in Florida. She sent the money to the person listing the property in advance. Later on when she went back to AlwaysOnVacation.com to show a co-worker the property she had rented, the property wasn’t listed anymore. She tried calling the person who rented the house to her, but the phone had been disconnected. She then tried calling AlwaysOnVacation to find out why the property wasn’t listed anymore, and was told they had removed all of the listings from this person, because it was a fraud.
To read the article click here.
Vacation rental fraud continues to evolve and we will hear more and more about this fraud on portals. I am sure there is much more of it than is presented in the press and we will try and keep you aware of what we find. As a company with a brick and mortar address, a contract process, a managed check in process, reviews, a web site, the ability to receive credit card payments and the ability to up-sell services will always allow you to offer a better value proposition, and with fraud an issue in the back of prospects mind, a sure deal beats a cheap price.
