|
Unfortunately scams and fraud are part of life when you do business over the internet. We do our utmost to block scammers from our system but they will still find a way round. By reading the following we hope that you will be able to identify scammers and not become one of their victims.
How they operate
Generally you will receive an enquiry as normal through the enquiry system. The person will be looking to make a booking as normal and may seem genuine at first; they may exchange several emails with you to build up your confidence. Eventually they will get round to paying for your home - they will offer to send a banker's draft, cashier's check or money order. They will always want to pay you more than it costs to rent your home, sometimes several thousand dollars more. You will be asked to send the balance to a travel agent, their company or to someone else who is assisting with the booking. They will specify how they want the balance to be sent, which will always be a method that can’t be stopped once it has left you.
Once you have returned the overpayment, your bank will contact you to tell you that their check was a fake and it will be returned to you. You will be unable to contact the renter and you will have lost the money that you sent onto the third party.
All banks use a check clearing system. When you deposit a check, it can take several days - depending on your bank and which part of the world you live in – for a check to clear and the funds to be permanently deposited into your account. The scammers take advantage of people’s lack of knowledge of this system, and the funds may appear in your account before the check has cleared. This combined with holidays and weekends may lead you to think that the funds have cleared when they have not. If the scammer has sent a fake check or if there are no funds in the account the check will be returned and the funds removed from your account.
An example of a scam email
Hello ,
How are you today?I am pleased to know the period is still available, I am OK with the price and will pay for my stay in full.As for payment this is how I want us to seal this reservation so there won't be any more delay. I will forward American money orders worth $1700 to you.I want you to understand that as soon as you cash the money you should deduct your money which is $625 and send the balance ($1075 which includes the transfer fees)to the travel agent that linked me up with you for payment as regards services rendered by his agency.The agency fees are to be sent through Western union or Money gram to the agent's contact to complete the job of booking my flight and other travel service his agency has rendered. I will need you to send your contact address to me for you to receive payment.
How to identify a scam
The most common ways to spot a scam are:
1 You are asked to accept a check for a sum greater than the rental amount
2 The correspondence you receive is badly written in bad English
What to do if you get a suspect enquiry
If you get a suspect enquiry please email a copy of it to admin@traveling2florida.com as soon as possible so that we can warn the other owners on this site and the other site owners we know.
Don’t be a victim of fraud – never accept a check for more than the rental fee
|
Articles