Find American Rentals

Post scam emails to warn other rental owners, or if you are not sure if an enquiry is genuine, put it up here and see what others think.
ManxRed1
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:52 am
Location: Polperro, Cornwall, UK

Find American Rentals

Post by ManxRed1 »

Could be perfectly innocent, but a few alarm bells for me.

This was a phone call rather than an email, but I was initially spoken to by someone who sounded like they worked in an offshore call centre, and later the call was picked up by someone who claimed to be the manager of the site.

findamericanrentals.com

Bear in mind my cottage is in Cornwall.

They gave me their URL and asked me to log in. They look to be trying to compete against HA, etc. by making a big deal about 'no booking fees' and mentioning websites who do charge booking fees (VRBO, HA, AirBnB, etc.). They guided me to Cornwall, and there is a handful of properties there, but the listings look very odd.

1. In the descriptions for each property, every single word is capitalised. So The Descriptions Basically Look Like This. Every one of them. I looked at several properties from several countries and They Are All Capitalised, Every Single One. I Mean, No One Writes Up Their Property Descriptions Like This, Let Alone Everyone????

2. None of them have any bookings showing in their availability section. I took a couple of examples, and went to their own websites (they seem to be real properties), and sure enough as you'd expect, they all have SOME bookings, but none are showing on findamericanrentals.com.

3. No owner has a photo, just the generic greyed out head. Surely SOMEONE would have uploaded a photo?

4. The caller told me that the annual subscription ($199 for a basic listing, and $299 for a premium listing) were on half price offer to me, but then mentioned that he would guarantee in writing a 10 times return on that fee in bookings.

Something's not right here. Anyone else been contacted?

Could be one of two things:

1. They harvested a load of properties from some other site (and their capture tool has failed to get calendar info, and has capitalised every word), and now need to build on their database by attracting genuine owners.

2. They want the half-price subscription from as many people as possible before they disappear into thin air.
User avatar
joddle
Posts: 766
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 11:56 am
Location: Valencia

Post by joddle »

Not been contacted but looked at the site - the property descriptions do look odd although the site is pretty well laid out - if a scam someone is investing quite a lot - but like you say, some things do look strange. I was hoping to see a property of someone I know so I could check with them but not found one yet. Has anyone else seen either their own property or someone's they know?
I don't profess to own anything here apart from my own opinion.
Tournesol
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Charente
Contact:

findamericanrentals

Post by Tournesol »

The grammar in the main body of text is also awful; English obviously not their first language.
What you've never had you never miss!
User avatar
AngloDutch
Posts: 727
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: Netherlands

Post by AngloDutch »

ManxRed1, it's an Indian scam website, and on the list below.

Notice just how many of these sites are now offline. After paying a subscription, and not receiving any enquiries, even though they promised to refund you if you don't get x amount of enquiries, they don't pay out and just disappear...and start all over again under a new name:


Always on Vacation (defunct)

Australia Holiday Rentals (all worldwide listings accepted!) (defunct)

Europe-Holidayrentals ( europe-holidayrentals.com )

Exotic Holiday Rentals ( exoticholidayrentals.com )

Find American Rentals ( findamericanrentals.com )

Hholidayrentals ( hholidayrentals.com )

Holiday Rentals (not the former HA uk) (defunct)

Holiday Rentals Booking ( holidayrentalsbooking.com )

Holiday Rentals Property (defunct)

Holiday World Rentals ( holidayworldrentals.com )

Homes and Hotel ( homesandhotel.com )

Homelidayrentals (defunct)

Onlinetripmakers ( onlinetripmakers.com )

Owners Network ( ownersnetwork.co.uk )

Owners Overseas ( ownersoverseas.com )

Rent Holiday Rentals ( rentholidayrentals.com )

Staynholiday (defunct)

Stayonvacations (defunct)

Stillonholidays (defunct)

Sunny Rentals (defunct)

Travelehome (defunct)

Tripnmate ( tripnmate.com )

Vacation Homes (defunct)

Vacation Home Rents ( vacationhomerents.com ) and Vacation Home Rent Property ( vacationhomerentproperty.com )

Vacation Planners Network (defunct)

Vacation Rainbow ( vacationrainbow.com )

Vacation Rental Planners ( vacationrentalplanners.com)

Welcome Rentals (defunct) ….hacked by the Pakistan Cyber Army
User avatar
AngloDutch
Posts: 727
Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:25 pm
Location: Netherlands

Post by AngloDutch »

Image


From the Find American Rentals homepage...not exactly inspiring is it?
ManxRed1
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:52 am
Location: Polperro, Cornwall, UK

Post by ManxRed1 »

Thanks AngloDutch, I suspected as much but good to get it confirmed. They've tried ringing me a few times, but I've just been flipping them to voicemail and they don't leave a message. They seem to have given up now.
ManxRed1
Posts: 229
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:52 am
Location: Polperro, Cornwall, UK

Post by ManxRed1 »

Another call from an Indian gentleman, this time for go2vacationrentals.com

The website looks so amateurish, and only one property in Cornwall.

It's like they're not even trying anymore! :lol:
Post Reply