Villa rental fraud

[widge]

Some sound advice if booking a self-catering villa /apartment

Fraudsters often use villa rental websites to advertise holiday villas or apartments that don’t exist.
Most scams occur on sites where owners advertise their accommodation directly.
If you are booking a villa or apartment online, you should avoid using these sites if you want absolute reassurance.
Never pay directly into an owner’s bank account.
Book with a company that will arrange the contract on your behalf.

My daughter was recently a victim of fraud booking via a company associated with Trip Advisor. She & her friends lost their deposit & had to find alternative accommodation.

Reading the press there are thousands of these incidents happening every year and it's getting worse.

[widge]

Online fraud is a relatively new area of crime, but it is developing fast.

Owner's internet villa rental sites are increasingly becoming a target for fraudsters, victims often find that they have no established claims route to turn to.
Credit card transactions are protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act - which covers purchases of more than £100 if you use your credit card. This enables customers to claim with their credit card company if goods or services they have bought are faulty or fail to materialise, as by law the credit provider is jointly liable if something goes wrong but most villa owners can't accept credit cards and insist on cash.

However, in many cases victims run into a grey area. Because they have typically transferred money from their bank account, rather than making a purchase, they do not get the above protection. Banks have said that because the victims authorised the transfer of funds, they are not covered in the event of fraud.

Owner's internet villa rental sites clearly outline in their terms and conditions that they don't accept any liability and they don't enter into any contract with the consumer.

[e-richard]

Indeed fraud is on the increase and its a good idea to warn people to be on the lookout, but scaremongering is not the way to do it.

If you are booking a villa or apartment online, you should avoid using these sites if you want absolute reassurance..

About 0.01% of the villas on offer are frauds. The rest are genuine owners and agents who work hard at ensuring you have a wonderful care free self catering rental holiday.. These listing sites (OwnersDirect, HomeAway, HolidayLettings etc.) are often the best way to find and contact the owner directly. By booking direct with owner, you may save some money, and you'll get a much wider choice.
You can also phone or email with as many questions as you like to check that the villa is suitable for your party and to help you gauge that the owner is genuine. Its not difficult. Ask questions about the area, the accommodation in detail, about the owner themselves - how often they visit and use the villa, where they live. Genuine owners will know and should be happy to answer all these questions and agents will usually have first hand knowledge of the villa. Scammers will not know the area or the villa in detail. There are many other ways to check the owner, and Google is often your best friend. If the owner is vague or uncommunicative - avoid.[/quote]

Never pay directly into an owner’s bank account.

Indeed you are offered much more protection if you pay by credit card, but many private owners cannot afford the monthly fees or high transaction costs or up front set up fees that credit cards entail. Provided you have done your due diligence as above, this method of payment may be the only choice for that special villa. This landscape is changing and more and more owners are accepting credit cards and either charging you extra or building the charges into the price. Do be careful, but I feel its not right to suggest that this is a deal breaker.

Reading the press there are thousands of these incidents happening every year and it's getting worse.

Of course, the press are always 100% accurate

[widge]

How you can construe sharing my families personal experience of internet fraud, supported by rational and factual advice about how to avoid it, as scaremongering is puzzling.

The advice I offered came directly from the police dealing with this case and I repeat

"Fraudsters often use villa rental websites to advertise holiday villas or apartments that don’t exist.
Most scams occur on sites where owners advertise their accommodation directly.
If you are booking a villa or apartment online, you should avoid using these sites if you want absolute reassurance.
Never pay directly into an owner’s bank account.
Book with a company that will arrange the contract on your behalf."

This is not me scaremongering just repeating the advice we were given!

It's not clear from your rather robust response whether you actually understand how the fraud in my daughter's case worked? The property existed, she spoke to the owner, who knew everything about the area, local shops, beaches etc.all was genuine and above board until.........the owner's email address was hacked and payment instructions were sent not by the owner but by the fraudster. So how do you know that the email you send goes to the intended recipient if their address has been hacked ??

I know that you run an internet site,to assist villa owners, and you are the moderator on this forum but I think you are being over defensive. It's a real issue, it's on the increase and yes (you might not like it for your own commercial reasons) but it's all over the press too!

[algarve123]

Sorry to hear that Widge, I'm sure that was a horrible experience for your daughter. Booking a holiday should be an exciting affair, not something that leaves people worrying if they are going to be scammed.

We were looking to book accommodation for later in the year and decided we might try staying somewhere different apart from the usual hotels. I must admit when looking through the numerous villa/apartment sites I shared your concern not only about losing money but also ending up without a booking and then having no time to find a good alternative.

I'm sure the majority are legitimate, its just a shame that there is a few dodgy characters that ruin it for everyone.

To end this on a positive note, I contacted the man in Casa Luiz on the top of the hill when looking for accommodation and he was extremely helpful, he unfortunately had no availability at the time we needed but he went out of his way to suggest alternatives (he even went as much as to contact them on my behalf and they emailed me) and I noted on his website that he doesn't take a deposit either, just cash payment in person when over. Its refreshing to deal with someone like that in this day and age.

[DVBRO]

Sorry to hear that Widge, I'm sure that was a horrible experience for your daughter. Booking a holiday should be an exciting affair, not something that leaves people worrying if they are going to be scammed.


To end this on a positive note, I contacted the man in Casa Luiz on the top of the hill when looking for accommodation and he was extremely helpful, he unfortunately had no availability at the time we needed but he went out of his way to suggest alternatives (he even went as much as to contact them on my behalf and they emailed me) and I noted on his website that he doesn't take a deposit either, just cash payment in person when over. Its refreshing to deal with someone like that in this day and age.

Yep that is really bad news Widge, have not a clue what to do if I was in such a position.
Interesting that Cash is exchanged for rental, do you get a proper receipt? Is the information taken on all renting the Villa, Passport, address etc.
The reason I ask is because a friend of mine was here last week, staying in an apartment in Luz and this is how the owner operates, absolutely nothing!
Reading the posts on this site, I thought this was the law.

[algarve123]

Yep that is really bad news Widge, have not a clue what to do if I was in such a position.
Interesting that Cash is exchanged for rental, do you get a proper receipt? Is the information taken on all renting the Villa, Passport, address etc.
The reason I ask is because a friend of mine was here last week, staying in an apartment in Luz and this is how the owner operates, absolutely nothing!
Reading the posts on this site, I thought this was the law.[/quote]

Not sure how it works DVBRO, as I said we wont actually be staying with him as the dates were unavailable, also his establishment isn't a whole villa rental, its a number of apartments and rooms. I've no doubt everything is above board, he seemed to be a genuinely nice guy and was fairly booked up.

[Maz&Stu2015]

Hi all, I'm new to this site and now I have read this post am a little worried We have booked a villa rental which we saw being advertised on trip adviser, they weren't covered on the guarantee that trip adviser sometimes offer, so we paid a deposit to the owner(?) bank account, at the time weren't sure about this but then accepted the fact that it was just a small deposit! Any ideas as to how I can find out if this owner is legit, the property was called Vivenda Theo, anyone heard of this its not far from the Quinta da Paraiso Resort??

Thanks in advance.
Marie

[e-richard]

Marie,
First of all, there is a 99.9% chance that the booking is genuine.
But while there is a chance it's not, here are some ideas to ensure that you feel 100% comfortable.

Do a search on the "<property name> in Carvoeiro". It may be advertised elsewhere as well. Check its still the same owner. How long has this owner been advertising that property? If more than 1 year you can be sure the listing site has not removed it for being a scam.
Check reviews on Trip Advisor and see what previous guests had to say about their experience. Over what length of time have there been reviews?
Contact the owners for more information. A phone conversation can go a long way! Engage in a constructive conversation and get to know one another. Talk about previous guests and their reviews, ask detailed questions about the Villa. Its amazing how quickly you can tell if they are not genuine.
You can even ask the owner for any personal references to contact previous guests etc.
Try Googling the owners by name. You may get a lot of spurious results, but if they are scam artists this will also crop up.
When emailing, double check the email addresses that you are sending to. Are they consistent? If it keeps changing, then a rat has an odour.

And finally, having done your homework as suggested above, then remember that despite the press, there is a 99.9% chance that you will have a wonderful holiday in Carvoeiro.

[widge]

Hope all is good for you. Some very comprehensive and well thought through advice can be found here................

http://www.schofields.ltd.uk/blog/416/h ... y-rentals/

[Maz&Stu2015]

Thankyou e-richard and widget for your advice. The property is advertised on trip adviser through Holiday Lettings but thats all i can find on it, there doesnt seem to be any reviews. We think we have located the property on google earth by the shape of the pool & surroundings so know the villa is legit, its just whether the person is! They are supposed to be contacting us fairly soon to let us know the balance due but did say we could settle up on arrival which we would do in any case. I think i'll wait for their email & then give them a call and speak to them.

[widge]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -bust.html

[John Burgess]

The new up dated Owners Direct and other sites owned by them will now take payment for privet villas etc this giving the holidaymaker insurance of 10K. + They do check villas are genuine
So any one can book with confidence
I hope this is of some help

[widge]

The new up dated Owners Direct and other sites owned by them will now take payment for privet villas etc this giving the holidaymaker insurance of 10K. + They do check villas are genuine
So any one can book with confidence
I hope this is of some help

Having read the small print I'm not sure that Owners Direct take any payment, you still pay the owner.

http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/info/trus ... enter_home

[steve]

And the fraud protection only applies if the owner accepts payment via Visa, Mastercard, Electron or Carte Bleu credit cards