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  Geebo 8:00 am on May 30, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cybersecurity ( 34 ), front desk scam, rental scam ( 84 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), short-term rental ( 5 ), vacation ( 8 )   

  Vacation scams are on their way 

  

  By Greg Collier

  With Memorial Day weekend behind us, many of use will be looking to book our summer vacations. Unfortunately, dream vacations can often turn to nightmares thanks to scammers. The Better Business Bureau has issued a warning about various scams vacation-goers may encounter if they’re not careful.

  One of the more common scams that could ruin a vacation is the rental scam. It works in the same way as a long-term rental scam works. Scammers will list properties online for short-term rental they don’t actually own. More often than not, the listing is copied from a legitimate listing, although the scammers are advertising the rental at below-market prices. Research is key when looking to rent a home for your vacation. Do a web search of the property’s address, and you might find multiple listings online that show different owners, different rental agencies, and different prices. If the listing you found is the one with the lowest price, there is a very good chance that is the scam listing.

  If you decide to go down the motel/hotel route, be wary of calls to your room from the front desk. A scam that has become popular over the last few years is when scammers call your room. They’ll call late at night while posing as the front desk. The caller will say your credit card didn’t go through and will ask for your credit card information again. The scammers are hoping that you’ll give them your credit card information instead of going down to the front desk. If you didn’t use a credit card, you’ll know you’re being scammed. If you did book your room with a credit card, always go to the front desk if there is a supposed problem with it.

  Lastly, you may want to be careful when using the wifi at your lodgings. Using public wifi in general can open you up to a number of security risks, such as exposing your financial information. While travelling, think about purchasing a plan with a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs can block your information from being seen on public wifi. However, when choosing a VPN, always go with a paid plan, as free VPNs are often just a disguise for more security risks.

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  Geebo 8:00 am on June 3, 2022 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Airbnb ( 13 ), front desk scam, hotel scam ( 5 ), lyft ( 15 ), rental scam ( 84 ), rideshare scam ( 5 ), Scams ( 1,224 ), Uber ( 24 ), vacation ( 8 ), VRBO ( 2 )   

  It’s time for vacation scam season again 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Memorial Day weekend often indicates the unofficial start of the Summer season. With that, many couples and families will be planning their Summer getaways. But the one thing we may not get away from are vacation scams. While some vacation scams may be minor, there are others that could have devastating effects that could end your vacation before it even begins.

  One of the more common and expensive scams is the Summer rental scam. Many properties listed online for Summer rental are often either misrepresented or non-existent. Just like in a regular rental scam, a scammer may have copied a listing from a legitimate realtor and posted it on places like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace as if they own the property. At least in a local rental scam, a potential renter can swing by the property to look for any inconsistencies. It’s almost impossible to do that with a vacation rental, since the property is usually a large distance away. Even with vacation rentals, you should do a web search of the address to make sure the property is actually being rented and who is actually renting it.

  If you’re planning in using a short-term rental service like Airbnb or VRBO, there have been issues in the past where hosts have grossly misrepresented their properties in order to get as many renters as possible. This has included properties in states of disrepair, rooms that looked more like jail cells than a living space, and switching properties on renters altogether.

  Another common scam is the front desk scam. This is where scammers will call your hotel room in the middle of the night, posing as the front desk. The scammers will claim that there is a problem with your payment information and will ask you to verify the information. You should never give this information out over the phone. If there is an actual issue with the front desk, walk down to their office to verify any problems.

  A new scam we’re hearing about is phony rideshare drivers. They’ll claim they work for Uber or Lyft and just had a fare cancel on them. More than likely, they’ll claim there is an outage preventing them from using the service’s app for payment.

  Lastly, when at all possible, book your vacation and plan your expenses by using a credit card. Credit cards offer more protection than debit cards if you happen to fall victim to a scam. While once cash is lost, it’s lost forever.