My sister found a rental house on AirBNB. She talked to the owners several times and they sent her an official looking contract. They asked for a deposit by money order. Right away she should have known they weren’t legit, but really wanted the house as it was right on the Gulf. So, she sent the deposit. When she showed up, the security guard informed her that he personally knew the homeowners and they weren’t renting their house, but had been contacted by several renters wanting their money back. The scammers simply took photos off Zillow as it had been for sale in the past. This same thing happened to a friend of mine who advertises his Montana cabin on VR—. A scammer duplicated his property listing and was renting it on Craig’s list. He had renters showing up declaring they had paid a deposit by money order. One was a lawyer who had put down a $4500 deposit for 3 months. When my friend called the number provided on Craig’s list, the scammer answered the phone even using his name to perpetrate the crime. He then had to call his own lawyer to get involved and stop Craig’s list from allowing this to go on. My sister had to do the same by calling the FBI. Neither AirBNB nor Craig’s list was going to take action.
There are many scams out there. Please be careful.
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