Just when I thought it was safe to rent another VRBO vacation home, I received a complaint from Brit Railston about a rental in Utah that went terribly wrong.
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Oh no, not another VRBO phishing scam!
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VRBO
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Was this Grand Canyon vacation rental a grand scam?
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No sense of ownership in home rental phishing scams
The rental villa on the French Riviera that Sonia Guillaume found online looked picture-perfect. It featured an impeccably manicured garden, spacious living areas, a pool and stunning views of the medieval village of St. Paul de Vence.
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A VRBO phishing scam with an unhappy ending
Today I’m revisiting a case I first reported on back in November and followed up on last month. It involves Tania Rieben, who had rented a condo in Maui through VRBO.com.
Or at least, she thought she had.
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Vacation rental scams are a growing problem
Tania Rieben thought she’d scored a bargain on a one-bedroom condominium in Maui for spring break. She’d found the vacation rental through a popular Web site called VRBO.com and then negotiated directly with the owner.
But after she wired $4,300 for a six-week rental, the person claiming to represent the property stopped answering her e-mails, and she soon made a stunning discovery: The “owner” was actually a scam artist who had obtained the real owner’s e-mail password and assumed his identity.
“Now the money’s gone,” Rieben says. “And I don’t have a condo.”
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