Scam warning

[Gordo]

Have had a couple of recent enquiries from an "Italian" with excellent English over past couple of weeks and on both occasions had to tell him/her the dates were booked. Came back a third time which got me thinking "they must really like the look of our place" and then after quoting them came their 4th communication where the tone has now changed completely and the scam is fairly obvious.

I'm now suspecting the original enquirer was genuine and has been caught by phishing. Problem is it's via HomeAway and pre-reservation hence I can't see sender email addresses.

I wont respond to enquiry and posting this purely for benefit of others to be on safe side.

Not sure if there's any merit in raising it with HA or would I just be wasting my time?

< snip >.

Hello and thanks for your reply and assistance so far. I have just concluded arrangements with my family and we have decided to stay at your place for that period. Every year, our entire family vacation renting and expenses are paid by my Company's Finance department; they are responsible for my family vacation expenses at your propertyHowever a Certified Bank Cheque of (4.000 €) was earlier made out by the Authorities who are sponsoring my family vacation. The Cheque payment was meant to cover for the cost of our accommodation, car rental services, and other necessary arrangements for all the whole family.I will not be able to make a deposit separately because all the money meant for paying for our accommodation came in one cheque package, Therefore my company would send you the Cheque (4.000€), so when you receive the check payment you are required to deduct the cost of your accommodation services and keep the balance for us (the cheque should clear in 2-7 working days).I will give you further instructions on how to use the balance.I need you to confirm this and provide the following information: (1) YOUR FULL NAME (AS IT WOULD APPEAR ON THE CHEQUE)(2) STREET NAME AND NUMBER(3) POST CODE(4) CITY(5) COUNTRY(6) PHONE NUMBER. is there any car rental close to you?I will await your email with the details so that instructions can be given for the cheque payment to be forwarded to you immediately. Regards,

< /snip >

.

[kevsboredagain]

I'm now suspecting the original enquirer was genuine and has been caught by phishing

You mean you think someone else is now using their email account? Don't really follow.

[Gordo]

I'm pretty sure that the original enquirer and the most recent enquirer are different people and I'm basing that assumption on the totally different style of language used.

The common denominator is they've both come through on the same HA enquiry so it's as if the conversation has been hijacked half-way through, hence I can only assume the "hijacker" has somehow got the info to communicate with me via phishing in some way.

HA would have the ability to check message headers etc whereas I can't even see the email addresses they've come from as enquiry is still at pre-booking stage.

[kevsboredagain]

Gotcha now. Scary stuff.

[paolo]

I can see the enquirer's email address on homeaway, it is at the top, under the sender's name.

[Hells Bells]

You can't (or shouldn't) be able to if you are on a commission only listing.

[paolo]

Ah yes, that makes sense. I'm not on the commission model.