Has this happened to anyone else?

[Mouse]

I was checking out one of the websites that'd been mentioned on the forum when I came across a villa normally rented out by my friend (on behalf of her friend). When we met for coffee yesterday I mentioned it as I thought it strange her name wasn't down as the contact. She was surprised - she knew nothing about it and was very concerned as her friend has her as sole agent

We both looked at the information displayed closely and although all the photos were of the villa, the no. of bedrooms and bathrooms had been increased by 1 and the price was quite a lot lower than the owner would normally charge. This made her very suspicious.
All the text describing the villa had also been copied.

So this morning my friend rang the company to investigate on the owners behalf (unfortunately she can't speak with the owner as he is away sailing).
The company tried invain to contact the person who had placed the details with them and following that they assured my friend that the webpage for the villa would be taken off line until they rec'd contact/sorted it out to her satisfaction

Thankfully this stops any would be holidaymaker being lured to place a booking with a person who isn't connected at all with this villa.........but it makes you think. How does someone know that the villa details displayed are bona fide? They could (as might have happened here) booked, paid and when arrived found other holidaymakers in there (it is booked out all season, although on this website that hadn't been made apparent)

had I not spotted it and mentioned it in passing this would never have been picked up.

has anyone ever experienced this sort of thing before?

Mouse
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[Guest3]

Goodness me!! I will have to 'Google' our villa to check the listings. It really didn't occur to me that this could be someone's way of trying to comit fraud at your expense!! Easily done as they copy everything from you!

These fraudsters have everything they need at their fingertips....but the only thing missing would be the full address of the property! Thank goodness I don't display this on the internet!

[Mouse]

yes Crystal I thought that!
The poor guests would fall at the final hurdle - having paid their rental and deposit they wouldn't get arrival details.....however the one problem with this villa is it is quite distinctive in design and is in a fairly prominant position high up off a road to a well known beach. So anyone knowing the island well - may know where it is!

scary!

Mouse
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[Giddy Goat]

Good lord! What a clever idea, but surely the fraudster would be traceable? Well spotted, Mouse!

[Mouse]

Jane

the site doesn't show any contact details of the 'person to contact' apart from the email address which you can only access through clicking the 'send email' button.

Obviously the website company must have this contacts details when he originally registered but wouldn't pass them on (date protection?) - however they did try and make contact. But this may have only been through email. The telephone numbers, if they were req'd, could have been false ones.

Its food for thought.

D.I. Mouse!
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[Guest3]

Well...I've had a little panic attack!! I've only just recently listed our villa on a new (free) listing site and I've just checked our advert...to my horror they have the road name of our villa and post code clearly open to public view!

It's only been on-line with them a couple of days so I've gone in and removed our address. I've checked all the other properties and they all have an exact location address too! This does leave other owners very open to this kind of fraud.

I've emailed the editorial team of this site to let them know.

[Giddy Goat]

D.I. Mouse!x

A mouse to be proud of. BTW how's your repetitive stain injury?

[Mouse]

BTW how's your repetitive stain injury?

I was fine Jane until I went up to do a mid week clean.....someone has obviously had their suitcase up on the white sheet on the double bed and there were black wheel tracks all along it!!!!!!!!
It is going to be 3 days before I get it off to then try and get the stain out - and even if I do they're getting charged...I'm past the point of no return on stains!!!!!!

Enid! Where are those flans girl!!!!!!!!

Mouse (who's still in stain therapy)
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[Giddy Goat]

Oh dear, mouse, I was hoping for better news.

[Hells Bells]

Crystal, is this a Spain only site? I've listed mine on a few sites recently, but don't remember giving anyone a postal address apart from Owners Direct. I have just had a strange email today from Rentals France, which apparently I have registered with (new to me, but the password/login info is one I would use).They are asking me to update my listing, except I don't actually have one as there are no property details on there, As they have recently relaunched, I was wondering if they used to be something else. They are offering to list properties free, with a payment of £3 per enquiry (rentalsfrance.com)

[Hells Bells]

The more I think about it, the more i think I probably did initially register on rentals france. I probably changed my mind, as I didn't want them charging me for potential dake enquiries. It's not clear how this works.

helen

[Guest3]

Helen, this is not a Spain only site...I have pm'd you the details.

[debk]

Mouse, which listing site is this? (the one with the bogus listing with extra bedroom/bathroom) PM if you don't want to put it here, please?

Thanks for the heads up!
debk

[Hells Bells]

PM myself or Crystal re the posting of your rental accommodation address. It isn't a Spain only site, and I know more of you are listed on there. It is a free site if any of you want to exclude yourselves.

Helen

[TravelPixel]

wasnt there a huge scam along this sort of line a year or so ago? A largish rental site that was pretty much all made up of fraudulent scraped listings......now if i could just remember the name.....