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I posted a question two weeks ago curious as to whether a VRBO inquiry asking if dates were available was scam. I thank all of you who responded. The follow up is unequivocally “Yes, it is a scam” Here’s how it works:
Scammer: 1st inquiry, "Is your place available Dec 1 - Dec 15?
Host: Yes, please send additional information re. your group, nature of visit, traveler’s origination point, govt. ID etc.
Scammer; 2nd inquiry 2 weeks later, Thanks for your reply. My wife and I are liking your home. My company will paying for vacation and will sending cashiers check. A PDF is attached with my email address. Send details for where to send money to that address.
I got quite a few of these scams 2,3 years ago. Always on VRBO. Seems like they’re resurfacing. Anybody else been getting them?
These scams are not to be confused with returning guests who I encourage to inquire about availability.
Got almost the same thing on VRBO with the long delays a couple months ago.
Between that and getting zero information/communication from potential guests, I bagged listing there.
My tour business was the highest ranked independent excursion in our community, so high on Google search, and I got a lot of emails via the web site from folks wanting to send me a cashier’s check with extra $$ to send to their “translator” in the US (these were all supposedly Chinese business people, always fishy because they wanted my limo 12 hrs/day for a week).
Of course, the check will bounce, and you’ll be out the “translator fee”.
It happens to folks in the travel industry all the time.
My first scammer was on FurnishedFinder. Wanted a free vacation for her and her daughter. I reported her and received a “Oh, we don’t do anything about that… it’s on you” response from FF. I didn’t renew after that.
Just got this. As soon as I saw the msg/text preview start with “Is your property available” I knew it was garbage (I know others will say it could be legit but it’s not). I’m tired and didn’t even play the game. Responded “No. Thanks for your inquiry”.
Hit the road “new traveler”, “unverified”, “no reviews”, James! I really wanted to reply,”Not to you!”
I went in as a landlord and early adopter. Not only did I give them serious QA feedback as a software developer and UX person, EVERY request I got was “Can I pay you in 2 weeks and I’ll be on vacation with my daughter/fiance/other…” or “I don’t get my per diem or payouts for a month but I want to book now.” or “My fiance will by lying around watching TV and looking after my 2 Chihuauas.” Guests don’t read.
I would expect that they would follow up on this (they were small, new, and said they were trying to stop scammers) and block the reported profiles.
I also sent them a complete list of the EIGHT local hospitals within a 15 mile radius WITH the Google lat/long as the other, non-scam requests I got were for hospitals an hour away. They didn’t add them to the database for TWO years.
They’re more professional-looking now, but their forums on FB and other platforms can be scathing in their reviews of the platform.
“Our records indicate you may have been contacted by a traveler named James Jackson about a potential booking with your Vrbo listing. We have identified a security concern with this traveler’s account. Out of precaution, we have reset your Vrbo password and you will be required to set up a new password at your next login.”
Hmmm, you don’t say?!
BUT even more interesting, I think this is a bogus email. It looks legit in every way BUT I wasn’t asked to change my password upon next login and when I did change it (went directly to the website) the confirmation email also looked legit but definitely different from the “warning” email. Man, these folks are downright devious. Y’all watch out.
I hope that you forwarded the phishing email to vrbo security?
You should also forward it to an email address on a computer, so you can look at the header to see who actually sent it, and also see where those links go.
After I reported a potential scam inquiry I recieved a similar message from VRBO. However, my password was not reset, i signed in as usual. Maybe this is the scam. Get you to sign onto a phony website and give them your account info.
I actually miss the scammers 2nd message which invariably said; my company is paying for my vacation, they’ll send a check to your bank. LOL .
It’s really irritating. And now they’ve tried to clone my property as well. I never clicked on anything and what information they had about me is publicly available. But still, it feels like a violation. I do not know how these people sleep at night.
A few years ago @CatskillsGrrl had a situation where someone rented out her cottage to a third party without her consent. Maybe she will pop in and refresh my memory.
Something similar with B.com.
A tour company booked my Victorian catastrophe during our floral festival.
A minibus arrived and dumped a bunch of people without an interpreter.
Truly awful, useless guests who expected some hotel service with a concierge service……
Didn’t like the house, didn’t like how far they were located from the centre of town, didn’t like that there was no Uber.
I wondered how the trip was sold to them and how much extra they paid on top for no service.
Talk about 3rd party bookings!
