Rental Scam Websites

I assume you have talked to your bank. I would suggest also talking to the police and at least file a report.

Sadly, your money is probably long gone and spent and there is not return. Possibly the police could get the bank account investigated, but usually scammers use unwitting victims to process the money through and have the money sent to them by money transfer service.

I am sorry.

Homes and Lodgers is a fake rental site. They list some "properties" in Key West

http://www.homesandlodgers.biz/

Their payment form mysteriously "breaks" every now and then

http://www.citybaseaccommodations.com

Address: 29 Chapel Road, London, England, SE27 0TL, UK

Contact Number: +1 646-355-2630 +44 203-239-8075

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

The web site is in the process of being reported for fraud.

http://www.reservationapartments.com

Head Office Address: 55 Park Lane,London,W1K 1NA.
Tel: +44 70457 48130 , +44 (0)704 571 4104.
+4470457 28221 , 020-7060-0049 , 08715031699.
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]

The web site is in the process of being reported for fraud.

www.claxapartmenthome.com

Contact telephone number (513)-223-6042


The web site is in the process of being reorted for fraud.

I am getting very concerned that some or the supposedly reported 'safe' sites (as in various docs posted by the board and industry bodies) are harbouring scammers knowingly or unknowingly....to wit....

1. Home Away....if you can get anyone to respond to a request for information, (rarely in my experience), then in 2 out of 3 enquiries I have received the following..

'Dear Traveller,

You recently sent an enquiry for the above referenced property.

Although this rarely occurs on HomeAway Inc websites, we identified this property as suspicious. The above referenced property may not be legitimate or in compliance with our Terms and Conditions. Accordingly, the property is no longer active and has been removed from our website(s).

We advise you to stop communications with this owner immediately and to not make any payments.

- If you already made a payment, contact your payment provider immediately to stop payment and/or seek reimbursement.

- If you have not booked this property, we suggest you search our site for alternative properties.

- Please note that payments made after this warning won't be eligible for participation in the Basic Rental Guarantee from HomeAway.'

I have told them that the hit rate (2 out of 3) is not good but have recieved no response (of course).

2. TripAdviser keeps on mailing me (OK I did make an initial enquiry....) with the fact that they have some FANTASTIC offers that 'meet my needs'.....and indeed some of them look quite good...until you make an enquiry. Then the emails come in with much higher pricing than displayed on the web site - along with comments like 'there was a mistake on the website' and/or 'it will be updated soon'...how is one to trust such sites with such obvious scams>

I have now decided that I will give up trying to do it remotely and take the chance when I get there (London).

Unfortunately, what you are seeing is very common.

The sites are legitimate, but they are being so heavily targeted by scammers that they just don't have the resources to filter them all. Scammers often copy real ads and use proxies to avoid being flagged when they sign up and post. They look legitimate at first, and the site has no reason to remove them until they are reported. They typically move very quickly to get victims to private email, so they can hold on to them when the site has confirmed they are fake.

I am actually glad to see your email from the site, as many sites have a policy that is much more detrimental to victims--they remove the ad, but don't notify the people who were targeted, so the scammer keeps scamming those victims.

Be warned....This is the one that got me in Feb of this year - its still crops up daily on craigslist - I continually flag it as 'prohibited' and have sent emails to their admin.....but its still there...

£26 Sloane Avenue Studio flat (Chelsea)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2012-05-25, 11:47PM BST
Reply to: [email protected]
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A bright and beautifully presented second floor studio flat (with lift and porter) situated in a popular serviced apartment block close to the many amenities of King's Road.

The property is in excellent condition and comprises modern studio room with wood floors and separate sleeping area, contemporary open-plan kitchen and bathroom.

Sloane Avenue is ideally located close to the many amenities of King's Road.

For transport, the nearest underground station is Sloane Square (Circle and District lines).

•Location: Chelsea
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 3017384583

My favourite scammers are up and running again as CBA Vacation Rentals - same web site info in terms of location and properties...now seems to be run by someone called 'Paul' according to the testimonials.

Details are:

http://citybaseaccomodations.com

Address: 29 Chapel Road, London, England, SE27 0TL

Contact Number: +44 203-239-8075

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

People...be warned and can the moderators please report this site through their normal channels.

Hello SCLB,
Thanks for posting the new website. Do you have an email from [email protected] with the header. I will need this information before the site will be taken down.

I will start the reporting process now.

Mike,

I have sent an email asking for a refund as per their terms and conditions from my previous booking (some hope - but it keeps them aware)...no reply as yet. You could get a grab of the logo from their web site.

[quote="SCLB"]My favourite scammers are up and running again as CBA Vacation Rentals - same web site info in terms of location and properties...now seems to be run by someone called 'Paul' according to the testimonials.

Details are:

http://citybaseaccomodations.com

OMG!! I am so glad I found this website and these posts. I was about to go to the bank tomorrow morning
and request a wire transfer for renting an apartment in Paris for a week, when I started to feel funny about it.
The bank information for the wire transfer was different in terms of name and place (UK) and I didn't feel
right about it.
I started googling all names related until I found this website. Yes, a Paul Meyers has been corresponding with me for a few weeks now, and the wire transfer was supposed to be to a Naveetha Thuth, with a Barclays Bank account.

So glad to have found you, Scam Warners. I won't be loosing 560 euros.