I just got off the phone with VRBO because someone tried twice to clone my listing. The rep tells me it’s to put in their own banking information when a reservation is made and paid.
I only found it when I started having trouble 2 days ago removing my current Rental Agreement. CS was able to remove it on their end but I still cannot upload a new one (just get a generic error telling me to try again in a few minutes). It wouldn’t even open the file finder window initially until I cleared cookies. Anyhow, I don’t know if the cloning fraud and the error messages are related but it’s what got me looking around.
I cannot see the cloned properties on the website but they show up on the app. It shows “Error”
and then lists my address followed by a different property ID (x2). They told me my address, name and email were linked to the fraudulent properties. They had already been flagged by VrBO apparently.
I’ve received phishing emails like those we discussed in @Alanmelsky 's recent phishing post but this is the first time I’ve had them go this far. I have also noticed my VrBO activity has suddenly gone silent. I don’t know if it’s related but maybe it’s noteworthy. Keep your eyes open.