Lay My Hat

Had the following message "Dear Rachel. I would like to stay at your property from April 27-May 6th. If it is all right we would like to pay by bank transfer. The credit cards we have are in Euros or USD. The bank transfer from our account in Pounds would be the cheapest and most convenient option. Look forward to hearing from you , Regards, Anna"

I replied saying that bookings via Tripadvisor would need to go through their payment system and have had a reply from Anna asking if she can pay the whole amount (1672.14 pounds as written) by credit card now.

Seems odd to me, any other thoughts?

You are afraid this is some sort of scam? It doesn't sound like to me when they are offering bank transfer. I would jump on the bank transfer but it seems you want to take payment through TripAdvisor (you have a commission listing perhaps?). It sounds like they now want to pay the whole amount even though it is going to cost them more if they have no sterling credit card. If it is stolen card, then it is going to be discovered before April 27th. It doesn't look odd to me. She offered you various payment methods and preferred the scam proof (from your point of view, not hers) one.

I was wondering about a scam although couldn't see how it would work, or possibly a message generated by TA checking for owners deflecting enquiries to their own website. I did this yesterday.
The offer to pay the full amount up front rather than deposit then balance was maybe too good to be true but may reduce foreign currency charges on the credit card. We have a commission listing so are tied to the TA payments and have to be careful about directing would be guests to our website.
It's easy to get paranoid- thanks for your reply

Well, yes. It could possibly be a devious plot by TA but I shouldn't think they go to these lengths unless you are a suspected serial deflector!? She probably just wanted to get it done and dusted in one go on the card, as you suggest.