Free-Rentals Vacation Rentals

Even long term renters have to be aware that the landlord who rents you a place may not actually be the landlord. With the amount of vacant and foreclosed homes in todays market, at least one scumbag tried taking advantage of it by posting as a landlord and renting out units to unsuspected renters.

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - After KRQE News 13 reported on a phony landlord renting foreclosed homes as his own property more people are coming forward claiming they’ve been scammed.

At least six people now have told News 13 that Ernest Garcia, who also is known as Ricardo Lombardy, offered to rent homes to them.

Three women interviewed for Thursday’s report said Garcia took deposits and rent for homes that were vacant from foreclosures. Two of the women said Garcia took money from them separately for the same house.

The third renter described a real estate agent telling her to get out of her home after she’d paid Garcia $1,000.

The renters said Garcia would go to the back of the house and let them in the front door after apparently breaking in through the back.

They say once he collected the money for a deposit or rent, he then gave them the slip.

Here are 5 general tips for avoiding internet scams in general, not just vacation rental scams.

1. Beware of  the danger signs. Don’t get pressured into a deal you’re not comfortable with. If a merchant tries too hard to convince you about the value of the company’s product or service, what it’s presenting is probably not true. Merchants also shouldn’t have to play to your sympathies or use scare tactics to force you to purchase or agree to something immediately.

Avoid any purchases that require a wire transfer and merchants that reach out to you though mailings, telemarketing and online ads promising deals that seem too good to be true. Those struggling with mortgages or facing foreclosure are particularly vulnerable to such offerings.

2. Check into merchants and their products. When buying from online outlets, make sure there’s a customer-service line and legitimate address to call or locate the business if trouble arises.

3. Use a credit card for items purchased online or those that need to be delivered. That way, you can dispute charges if you don’t receive what you were promised. Of course, make sure you can afford the item, otherwise you’ll be paying interest or late fees as well.

4. Ask to make a down payment instead of paying in full, up front. Consumers often complain that home-improvement work and other services were not conducted in the manner promised. But once you’ve paid the tab, it’s more difficult to coax subpar contractors to clean up their messes or finish what they started.

5. Get everything in writing and understand everything you sign. Service estimates, as well as any other agreements with merchants, lenders, landlords and roommates should always be in ink on paper — but never sign an agreement you don’t fully understand or aren’t comfortable with. Before signing any document that is written up by someone else, read it thoroughly or consult a lawyer, accountant or other expert to comb through the details.

Here is a scam inquiry we just got in today. I don’t know exactly how/why it’s a scam, I just know it’s a scam. Here are the things that indicate so….

a) The dates of checking in are next week. So, this lack of time puts me (the rental owner) in a time pressured situation.

b) Lot’s of mispellings and bad grammar.

c) Weird indentations and lack of any specific information regarding the exact rental unit they are interested in renting. Therefore, it’s clearly a generic copy/paste message that this cockroach emails to hundreds of people at once.

d) The cockroach talks about making the booking for his “client”. BS, there’s no client. Think about it. If the traveler is staying a hotel room, then yes, he/she may have his assistant book the room for him. However, for vacation rentals, they are all unique, a traveler is NOT going to have his/her assistant or agent book a vacation rental on his/her behalf…. no way, they will look up the unit they want and contact the owner directly themselves.

My best guess as to how this scam works is as follows… You quote the cockroach 3 rooms for 5 nights for a total cost of $3000. The cockroach pays you by credit card an amount of $3000. The transaction passes through cleanly. The next day, the cockroach pleads with you that he made a mistake, it was only suppose to be 2 rooms, one single and one double, and he overpaid you.

He frantically demands you reimburse him the $1000 overpaid, in fact, you can keep $300 for the error, but please refund $700.. because if my client (boss) finds out, I’m going to lose my job, I’m new at this, blah blah blah… and so he requests for you to simply pay him using YOUR credit card in an amount of $700. You do so, because afterall, you have his $3000.

Several days later, the $3000 you have bounces, as it was a stolen card the cockroach used to pay you. But you’ve already refunded the coach a certain amount of money through a different route.. and now that money is long gone!
 
This scam came into us courtesy of: carlaamamii@yahoo.com 

If you are seeking a vacation rental, you need to be aware of a scam that targets you. People will post FAKE listings on vacation rental websites, claiming they are owners of a certain vacation rental unit. Or it may be a real listing, but someone else owns it. The scammer simply copies it from some other vacation rental listing website.

- Always go with your gut instinct, if you “feel” somethings wrong, then something probably is wrong.

- Ask the owner to proove to you that he is the rightful owner. Don’t worry, you won’t insult him. He wants your business very badly, and he will find ways to prove to you beyond any doubt that he is the rightful owner.

- Ask to be forwarded pictures of the unit that are not shown in the listing page. The owner should have pictures of himself of friends/family etc.. in the unit. You just want to be able to see personal pictures that clearly show it’s the same unit as the pictures on the listing page convey.

- Ask for a fax or scanned image of a piece of mail that has the address of the rental unit on it.

- Ask for a phone number and call the owner, make sure it matches the general area. If not, as many vacation home owners reside in other countries or states, ask the owner how he’s able to manage the place remotely. Tell him this raises red flags for you, and that you need him now to prove he is the rightful owner.

- Ask the owner MANY MANY questions… which airport to fly into, what shops exist in that area, will you need a rental car or not? is there public tranportation? is there a blender? toaster? what kind? Is there a fold out bed? Why does the ad state certain things but he states otherwise. Basically, whether by email or by phone, you’ll be able to tell if the story adds up or not. The more questions you ask, the more things will add up and obviously conclude that he is the rightful owner.

- Tell the owner you want his personal email address, (not a Yahoo or Google email address) but rather, their company work address. Find out who this person is, where they work, and email them to their work account so they verify they actually work there.

- Look for broken English in the email conversations. Most vacation homes are expensive, so most vacation home owners are educated, they aren’t going to write in broken English.

- Ask to see the owners “web presence”. You can do it on your own by Googling the persons name. Do a Google search query on “PERSONS NAME” with the quotations. Do your own homework, then ask the person to show you websites that refernce you… True, some of the older folks won’t have much web presence, but what you are looking for is how they handle the question. Do they get nervous and try to explain it?

It is important to point out that 99.99% of the listings are REAL PEOPLE with real vacation properties that they want to rent out. The rental home owner is in a VERY vulnerable position, they are the ones who are out on a limb and hoping for your honesty and decency.
 
They have to trust you don’t burn the place down or trash it, or steal from it, or bring over hundreds of people for a party, etc…
 
In general, a LOT of the rental money they collect goes toward insurance, taxes, mortgages, maintainence, utility bills, etc… and it adds up. One stolen or broken appliance could easily put them at a loss.
 
So the rental home owner is far more exposed in this equation than the rental seeker. But they need your business and they will work hard for your business. So always keep this in mind, and understand that it’s NOT the vacation home owner who scams and screws people over… it’s 3rd party gheto low-lifes (probably from Nigeria) who are victimizing rental seekers.
 
So don’t worry about insulting or being really demanding of rental home owners, they appreciate that you are doing your due dilligence.. and THEY want to get to know you just as much, that you aren’t going to scam them or steal or trash the place.
 
So DO establish a relationship with the owner… DO get personal and have plenty of communications. It not only helps you feel comfortable that he’s the rightful owner, but it helps him feel comfortable that you are a decent guest and upstanding citizen.

If you are a vacation home owner, you need to be aware of a scam that targets your business. The jist is this… a rental seeker will contact you and express interest in your rental unit. You contact the person back either by phone or usually by email, and then negotiate a price that you both agree on. 
 
You then ask for a security deposit in order to secure the booking. The scammer sends you a bogus check, the check “clears”. The scammer then has some urgent reason why he needs his deposit back… namely, he overpaid, or has to cut his trip short, or can’t come out, etc.

He demands you refund all or some of the money asap. Don’t.  You have to make 100% sure that he is really who he says he is before you send the money back. And you have to make sure the money is really in your possession.

- Tell the person that you need time to send back the money, and that you need proof he is who he says he is. Have him fax you or mail you photocopies of his ID card. If he gave you a check that you deposited in the bank, explain to the bank your situation and your concern of sending him money back. 
  
- Scammers create a sense of urgency and put you in an intensely pressured situation. They frantically contact you in an atmosphere of despair and desperation, and make you feel like you are a bad person because of your slow actions to refund their money. If you feel pressured, then SLOW DOWN and give it time.

- Never send money by Western Union to someone you don’t personally know… period. Often these scammers use Western Union.

- Don’t ask your back if a check “Cleared”. The scammers use stolen checks, so it may take a month or so before the owner of the checkbook figures out that someone has been fraudelently using it and writing checks. Ask the bank what information he can provide you to prove he is who he says he is and that the check is legit.

- When you get a rental inquiry from Free-Rentals.com, we send you the IP address of the sender, as well as detailed city-country information concerning where the sender comes from. You can’t rely on this information 100%, as savvy scammers have ways to mask their IP address. Make sure the address of the check you received matches the address of the senders IP.
 
- Don’t deal with ANYONE from Nigeria… period. In fact, we block the entire country, so you won’t be getting any Nigeria inquiries on Free-Rentals.com.

There are two parties involved in the rental of a holiday home. And unfortunately, there are scams that target both the vacation home owner as well as scams that target vacation rental seekers.
 
Before getting into detail on these scams, you should familiarize yourself with the various types of internet fraud, what to look for and how to protect yourself. You can learn the basics at this website:

http://www.fraud.org/tips/internet/travelfraud.htm

There are essentially 2 main vacation rental scams.  Be aware of them and do whatever you need to do to protect yourself from them.
 
1) A fake “renter” contacts a real owner and requests to rent the property. The fake renter then sends a check to the owner as a security deposit to rent the property. But they write a check that exceeds the proper amount of security deposit. The fake renter then waits a few days until the owner cashes the check, then contacts the owner and says they overpaid, and pleads for a refund in the amount overpaid… usually by telling the owner to send the refund of the amount overpaid via Western Union, and usually to Nigeria or Central Africa. A few days later, the check that the fake renter from Nigeria gave you will bounce… and so you are out that money, and you are also out of the money you just sent them via Western Union. 
 
HERE is more information on this scam.
  
2) A fake “owner” will post their rental property on a rental property directory website such as www.free-rentals.com. However, the rental listing is a fake. Usually fake address, fake pictures, fake place. But the email and phone number will be real, so they get contacted. The rental seeking victim then contacts the fake owner and requests to book the place. Of course it’s available. The owner then requests a security depost and sends the contract. The renter sends a security deposit, then shows up but there’s no such place available for rent.
 
For this second type of scam, USUALLY the biggest barrier for the scammer is that they have to PAY to join a vacation rental directory website… Most sites are about $150 USD per year, usually too steep of a price for these such scammers. However, since Free-Rentals.com is free, it leaves us wide open for these kind of scammers to sign up and try to scam someone. So please be on the lookout and very careful of this type of scam when seeking a rental.

We do everything in our power to find and weed out such scammers, but we need your help. If you suspect any of these 2 scams on free-rentals.com, please contact the free-rentals.com staff immediately.

On July 19th 2007, I was tipped off by a member on the free-rentals.com of a scam, here is the message I got:

“Message: I checked the web site to see about possibly listing my NYC vacation rentals on your site. I believe that 2 of your listings are scams. The listing at 153 W 57th St lifted some phrases from my ads and some from other ads. There are no Golf courses in Manhattan. I do not believe there are any private outdoor pools in apartments, and a lot of other clues that this is a scam. The listing at 128 W 58th Street has a photo that was used in other scams that I am aware of and the name Thruman has been used in other scams. There are a lot of other clues that tell me that it is a scam. If you wish to contact me you can reach me at 212-xxx-xxxx. I am 80% booked for the year and not trying to get rid of competition. I am trying to clean up the industry to make it better for all of the honest VR owners.”
 
Before deleting the scam listings, I inquired on of f the properties to see how the scam works… here is how. 
 
Basically the scammers make up a phoney rental listing. For whatever reason, at least on the Free-Rentals.com website, they’ve been targeting the New York City Area. And the scammer users very simple addresses, and only uses 5 photos, of a plush looking apartment. All the pictures and details and directions and address are fake… all made up. 
 
The scammers then gets the renter interested to rent the property, then seeks a security deposit by paypal, check or wire transfer.
 
The unfortunate victim, the renter, pays a security deposit, then shows up in New York, but there’s no such place available for rent… it was all made up. Meanwhile, the scammer keeps the security deposit.
 
Be aware of such scams, and if you suspect one on Free-Rentals.com, Please notify us ASAP.