Vacation Rental Scams 

Has your vacation rental listing been copied and posted as a Craigslist vacation rental scam? Are you sure? When is the last time you checked Craigslist? 

Many vacation rental owners are victims of a Craigslist vacation rental scam and they do not know about it until it is too late.

In the past month, I have seen social media posts from dozens of owners asking for help getting a fake listing of their vacation rental removed from Craigslist.

Not just that.  Guests are seeking last-minute reservations because these fake ads duped them.

It’s a big moneymaker for these con artists, and no short-term rental owner is exempt from their rath.  

Don’t get me wrong – Craigslist is a legitimate site, and many vacation rental owners have been successful with generating bookings from listing their properties there.

Think of it this way, if Craigslist ads didn’t work, then scammers wouldn’t be using the site to create fraudulent posts.  

In this article, I’ll explain how these scams work and what you can do to avoid and remove fraudulent listings.

How Does a Craigslist Vacation Rental Scam Work?

One would think it would be difficult to set up a scam, but it is quite simple. 

For the most part, these scammers are lazy. They copy the pictures and details from the listing and create a fake Craigslist ad for the rental property.  It merely takes minutes to do.

Scammers rarely accept credit cards, since they more easily traceable. 

Usually, the scammers ask the renter to send the money via Venmo, Paypal, money order, or wire transfer. 

Once the guest pays, the scammer sends the property location (sometimes real, sometimes a fake address) and a fake key code or a phony location to get the keys. 

The guest shows up for their vacation to find out they are the victim of a scam.

Usually, these Craigslist vacation rental scams go unresolved, and the renter rarely gets their money returned. Local authorities, and even Federal authorities, have not been very successful in pursuing these fraudulent activities. 

Many times the scammers are from another country and are professional scammers who can avoid IP address tracing. 

As an owner, your chances of getting a scammer caught and prosecuted for fraudulently listing your property are incredibly slim.  

What Owners Can Do To Avoid a Listing Scam

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to avoid having your property listing fraudulently listed as a Craigslist vacation rental scam. But there are a few steps you can take to help deter a scammer from choosing your property.

• Watermark your listing photos with your website address
• Watermark your listing photos with wording such as, “this property is NOT advertised on Craigslist”
• Include verbiage on your website and social media that lists the actual sites where your property is listed
• When posting in local Facebook groups, include wording such as, “this property is NOT advertised on Craigslist”
• Include distinct keywords in your property listings to search online to seek out listing scams

Periodically (at least monthly) search Craigslist to see if your property is fraudulently listed.

• Look for your property photos on the local Craigslist city nearest your property
• Search for the distinct keywords + Craigslist (i.e., “High View Cabin Craigslist”)

How to Remove a Fraudulent Craigslist Ad

You cannot delete a fraudulent Craigslist post yourself. You will need to report the post as fraudulent and request its removal.

Craigslist has a “contact us” link in the help section. Select “flagging, terms of use violations and scams” to report the fraudulent listing. Complete the form with information explaining the need for ad removal.

The quickest way to get a fraudulent post removed from Craigslist is to have multiple people “flag” the listing.

Many vacation rental owner Facebook groups allow owners to post a link to the fraudulent ad and request other owners to “flag” the ad for removal. Usually, this is very successful, and Craigslist typically removes the ad within a couple of hours of getting a high number of flags.

Here is the Craigslist help link with further information:

https://www.craigslist.org/about/help/flags_and_community_moderation

How to Get More Direct Bookings without using Craigslist

For more information on generating more direct bookings for your property, check out #Bookdirect Myths Debunked & Why You Should Take Direct Bookings.