When Planning A Vacation – Be Careful Of Scams

I am in the process of planning our family vacation.  We leave next week.  I try to piece the vacation together myself to save money.  But, when you take a task on like that, you open yourself up to being scammed.  That's what happened to me last night and fortunately, I was smarter than that.  But, the scammer was good...very very good. 

I was searching for a timeshare, condo, villa or house to rent.  I always look at websites like VRBO and Homeaway.  They are safe sites and offer a carefree guarantee should something go wrong.  Well, I found a house that was quoting out to $1700 for 10 days.  So I emailed the owner.  I received an email back telling me the property was available and the grand total would be $800.  I thought that was odd.

I told the owner I was interested and they emailed me a renters agreement and directions on how to make payment.  The renters agreement had the Homeaway logo all over it and it said clearly that this rental property was covered by their carefree guarantee.  That made me feel comfortable.  Well, then they said that I had to Western Union the money to them.  BINGO...that was the deal breaker.

I was torn, because the contract had the Homeaway logo and it also said it had the carefree guarantee.  But everything within me told me the Western Union thing was a bad idea.  My bank, Kennebec Valley Federal Credit Union, has told me never to do this.  So, I decided to go directly to the Homeaway website and see what they offered for advice when renting property.  Here's what it said:

Avoid the following practices

• Paying in cash
• Sending a check made out to cash
• Using an instant money transfer such as Western Union or Money Gram.