”A review of recent transactions indicates that you received an unauthorized payment. This means that the PayPal account holder did not authorize the payment you received.”

I log into PayPal and counter the dispute giving my side of the story. Paypal has a simple text box for me to explain my verion of the story. I point out that, we are a donation based system only, we never ask for money, we only accept donations IF and WHEN a member benefits from the services of our website. 
 
The paypal form says to post any email conversations I had with the person. The person never contacted me, and if they did, and explained why they weren’t happy with our free services, and why they regret donating to us, then I’d most likely have just refunded their money.
 
Well, of course, I spent too long typing in my story to Paypal, so their website timed me out and booted me, forcing me to re-login, and losing my story. So I have to write it again. 
 
Exactly 2 seconds after submitting my counter claim, PayPal sends me the following email…
 
As you know, we have been reviewing the transaction detailed below. Our
investigation is now complete and we have returned the funds to the PayPal account holder.

Now… I’m not linguist… But does a 2 second machine handling of email really count as an “investigation”? 
 
There was no investigation…. PayPal should have just written me back and said… “Look, we are too lazy to really look into this, so we’ll side with the buyer, because well hey, it’s the safer side with him right? I mean, wouldn’t you do the same if you were us?”.
 
Now, if this was all there was to the story, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I wouldn’t care. If someone wasn’t happy with their donation, and they wanted it back, so be it. But there is a reason this story is particularly frustrating.
 
You see, the person who donated to Free-Rentals.com, and then 1 month later, took their donation back… is a SCAMMER!
 
We have had problems with this scammer in the past. They create a fake listing on our website, in the New York Area… the only real information is the email address. Potential renters contact him to rent the apartment in New York… through email coorespondance, the scammer requests a security deposit be made to secure the booking.
 
The victim makes the security deposit, and then arrives in New York and has nowhere to stay. Follows the map, directions to the rental apartment, but it’s phoney, doesn’t even exist. The scammer makes off with the victims security deposit.
 
Now, most vacation rental directory websites charge a steep fee for owners to sign up and list a property. Free-Rentals.com however does NOT charge any fee upfront, so it’s easy for these type of scammers to post a fake ad and try and scam a potential renter out of a security deposit.
 
We have put security measures in place to combat this scam, and it’s working fairly well. 

In this particular case, the scammer caught on to the fact they we kept deleting his fake accounts, so what did he do? He donated, so we wouldn’t be flagged that he was a possible scammer and posted a fake account…. never did we suspect that PayPal would give this scammer his money back after he had a month of trying to work over his scam on our customers.
 
Here are the details of his fake listing he had posted on Free-Rentals. I have since deleted it.
  
Name: Matt Low mattlow101@aol.com
Phone: 206-888-6955
Rental Name: Matt Rental
Address: 172 W 67th St New York, New York 10023 United States 
 
HERE IS HIS SCAM this person is running.
 
Here is the PayPal information this scammer used to donate $50 to free-rentals.com and then take it back:
 
STEVEN STROGOFF
12 ESTABROOK ROAD
SWAMPSCOTT, MA 01907
United States
 
If you don’t think crime pays, check out STEVE “SCAMMER” STROGOFF’s $670k house right near the Atlantic Coast. But Steven The Scammer may not be acting alone.
 
We track the IP address of everyone entering into the free-rentals.com website. This scammer, the actual person who posted the fake property listing, comes from the United Kingdom. (which as matter of factly, I’ve come to learn from experience that there are about as many internet scammers per capita from the UK as there are from Nigeria).
 
PayPal… Your “investigation” is as phoney as this scammer’s property listing. One of the measurements we used in determining if a property listing was real or fake, was whether or not they donated, paid money to us… because afterall, scammers stay in business because the money flows in one direction, and one direction only… and that is TO THEM.
 
PayPal, by allowing this scammer to take back the money, you are essentially allowing them a free month of trying to scam people. Please do us all a favor and look up the word “investigation”. If you really investigated this case, and this person “STEVEN STROGOFF”, you would discover that he is a scammer working with other scammers in the UK. 

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.

“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.
 

http://www.villa4vacation.com
http://www.villa4vacation.us/
 
If you are seeking a calander for your bookings, we highly recommend the following business:
 
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We have absolutely no interest in this company, we don’t even know them. We just know them to be one of the best “fair” calendar systems out there.

Columbus, OH - Median rent is $626 a month.
Indianapolis, IN - Median rent is $634 a month.
Kansas City, MO. - $655
San Antonio, TX - $662
Cincinnati, OH - $668
Saint Louis, MO - $679
Cleavland, OH - $702
Houston, TX - $707
Dallas, TX - $716
Salt Lake City, UT - $726

Source: Forbes.com

New York City, NY - Median rent is $2,922 a month.
San Francisco Bay Area, CA - Median rent is $1,904 a month.
Boston, MA - $1,658
San Jose, CA - $1,612
Los Angeles, CA - $1,452
San Diego, CA - $1,304
Washington DC - $1,302
Miami, FL - $1,080
Philadelphia, PA - $1,014
Chicago, IL - $1,010
 
Source: Forbes.com