Puerto Vallarta (PVDN) – Vacation rental scams in Puerto Vallarta, and around the world, have received plenty of media attention. So why do people continue to fall for the ‘too good to be true’ deals?
Puerto Vallarta has more vacation rental scams than actual vacation rental properties available. What makes scamming people so appealing to these thieves? It’s the simple fact that there are still too many people who ignore all the telltale signs of a scam because they want to believe in that too-good-to-be-true deal.
This phenomenon isn’t new. Vacation rental scams have been at the forefront of the travel industry for decades. It’s not a little dirty secret that no one knows about. We have all heard the warning signs, we know scams with vacation rentals happen frequently. And most importantly, we know how not to fall victim. But the scams still continue at a high frequency because there is money to be made from the most ignorant of travelers. Yes, I said it. I am blaming the victims.
PVDN receives emails almost daily from victims of vacation rental scams. It’s heartbreaking to know that someone saved for a vacation and that money was stolen from them by dishonest people. But, it is just as heartbreaking to know that people are willing to send their hard-earned money to a complete stranger using Western Union, and without any guarantee, except a useless contract because the person is pretending to be the owner of the property and likely using a fake name. No contract is enforceable if either party doesn’t have the legal right to enter the contract. For example, if the ‘owner’ actually doesn’t own the house, your contact is useless. Your contract is also useless if it’s signed with a fake name.
With many years of warnings from the travel industry about these scams, there are still willing victims allowing the sales pitch to take over logic, so I leave you some simple rules for booking and paying for vacation rentals online. The fewer people who are able to be scammed, the fewer people will try to scam others in the future. Supply and demand. Stop falling for the oldest tricks in the book. These aren’t new ideas, we already know them.
Too good to be true
We have all heard that if something is too good to be true, it probably is. You are not going to find a two-bedroom condo in the Romantic Zone of Puerto Vallarta during January, February, and March for $600 USD a month. You are lucky if you find that price in the dog days of summer. But if you find that price during the peak season in a popular beach resort town, you are being scammed. You can look through the internet and see what other comparable rentals are going for. If your price is much lower, the chances are, you are being scammed.
Facebook finds aren’t what they appear to be
You should be skeptical of everything you see on Facebook. The ‘Meta’ company is investing billions of dollars into the Metaverse, a fake world online. The platform has never represented reality, and that includes the millions of scams being perpetrated every day on Facebook. You have zero protection by entering into business with anyone on Facebook. Enter at your own risk.
The best rule of thumb is to NEVER do business on Facebook. With Facebook, there is no screening process or verification process. The marketplace on Facebook is jampacked full of scams, it’s the Craigslist replacement (remember that poor place?)
Paying with Western Union is 100% risk
Two things are factual. Only kidnappers use pay phones and only scams accept Western Union. The reason is, both are hard to track and there is zero chance of getting a refund.
The ONLY way you should pay for a vacation rental is using a credit card. You should NEVER wire money and certainly, run away as fast as you can if you are asked to use Western Union.
How should I pay for my vacation rental?
Credit cards can offer a bit more protection, but if you are booking far in advance, the credit card company might not be as willing to allow you to dispute charges from six months ago. Every card company is different. It may be worth calling your card company and informing them that you would like to use your card for a vacation rental and what is the policy for disputes if you arrive at the location and it’s not what is advertised, or the homeowner simply disappears. Knowledge is power. Don’t assume anything.
Another option is to tell the homeowner that you will pay using escrow. There are online services that act as escrow accounts that will protect you and the homeowner. You deposit the money in an online escrow account and as long as the homeowner and renters fulfill their contractual agreement, the homeowner gets paid on the agreed-upon date. This isn’t any different than renting on Airbnb. The homeowner is never paid until the guest has checked into their rental. Any honest homeowner will accept escrow as a way to protect both the homeowner and renter. Escrow.Com, select contracted services. You will pay about $60 USD in service fees for every $1,000 of the rental costs. It’s worth the extra insurance. If any homeowner refuses to allow a payment option that protects you, you should pass up on the deal, no matter how good it sounds. Unless you have enough money to take the risk and are willing to accept that you might be scammed.
Credit cards and escrow are the only options for payment that you should agree to when paying for a vacation rental online.
Ask the tough questions!
Simple questions, like, do you have a website? Is your property on Airbnb or VRBO? Where can I read your reviews? You can even test the ownership of the property by asking if you can see a copy of the most recent electric bill. If the name on the electric bill doesn’t match the name of the person you are doing business with, there is a chance they actually don’t have the right to rent the property and you are being scammed. Don’t let the sales pitch distract you from common sense. Also, if you get to the point of doing a contract, you should require the homeowner to attach a copy of their government identification to the contract. And, you should make at least one video call with the homeowner before signing anything.
What are the alternatives?
You shouldn’t be renting a vacation home from any private individual unless it was a direct reference from someone you actually know and trust (not a Facebook friend or someone in a Facebook group). Even then, enter an agreement for a vacation rental with a private person at your own risk.
The surest way to protect yourself when booking a vacation rental is using large corporate booking companies that are insured and able to offer a money-back guarantee. These include Airbnb, FlipKey, and VRBO. Locally, pvrpv.com is the largest and oldest vacation rental and property management company in Puerto Vallarta. As long as you stay compliant with the terms of any agreement, you will be protected under most circumstances. That doesn’t mean there is a small chance of a property owner flaking out, but at least if that happens, the company will work to get you into a comparable place. When that happens dealing directly with the homeowner, there is no system in place to help you.
I have no relation with Escrow.com or PVRPV. These are just logical and safe options based on my knowledge.
Five psychological reasons why people fall for scams – and how to avoid them
Con artists, fraudsters, and their hapless victims are a staple of the news cycle and hardly a week seems to pass without a story about an e-mail lottery scam or a telephone fraud. Many reading these stories perhaps just raise their eyebrows and shake their heads, wondering how people can be so gullible.
There is often an assumption that the victims have specific traits – perhaps they are elderly or less well educated? Or maybe the victims are particularly vulnerable – recently bereaved or socially isolated perhaps?
Figures do suggest that one in five over-65s say that they have been targeted by email scammers. But it is also likely that nobody is immune to fraud and sometimes people simply fall for scams due to the psychological techniques employed by fraudsters.
Using some of the ideas outlined by psychology professor, Robert Cialdini, here are five psychological reasons why people fall for scams.
You scratch my back…
Beware the principle of reciprocity. If someone does something for us, we feel more obliged to do something for them. Scammers use this type of “enforced indebtedness” to elicit an unwise action from their target. For example, someone offering you an exclusive opportunity to invest your money can be seen to be doing you a favour. That in turn makes people want to return the favour – which could be as simple as continuing to listen to their sales pitch, or as destructive as signing up for a bogus scheme.
Like lemmings off a cliff
Research shows that if a person believes other people are doing something, then they feel it must be okay for them to do it too. This is especially true when individuals find themselves in a pressured and ambiguous situation – such as a sales pitch. If a person on the other end of the phone tells us that 75% of people like us have signed up to this financial scheme, then we are much more likely to do so – even though we might secretly doubt the veracity of such claims.
Little steps
People like to think of themselves as being consistent and committed individuals. If we say we are going to do something, then generally we will, as failure to do so may dent our sometimes fragile self-esteem.
Fraudsters take advantage of this by getting us to commit to little steps that then escalate in nature. For example, by simply getting people to answer their “trivial” questions (how are you today?), the fraudster is getting their prey to fool themselves into believing that they are happy to talk to this unknown person. And, of course, trivial questions lead to more personal ones, like who do you bank with? Having answered one question, it would be inconsistent not to answer another one. And, after all, we like to perceive of ourselves as helpful and polite individuals.
FOMO (the fear of missing out)
People are generally worried about missing out on an opportunity, perhaps for “the next big thing”. And if such an “offer” is for a limited time only, then the principle of scarcity suggests that people are more likely to be drawn to it.
When our freedom to be able to do something is threatened, we tend to react quickly to ensure that we don’t miss out. When pitching financial offers, scammers will claim that this offer is only valid now and as soon as they put the phone down, the offer will be gone. Many people will feel that they simply can’t miss out on such an opportunity.
They seemed so nice
The principle of similarity suggests that we tend to like people who seem to be the same as us, and, in turn, we are much more likely to agree to a request from someone we like. Similarity can be as broad as an interest in financial investments or as fleeting as sharing some personal characteristics.
Scammers take advantage of this and try to find out things about us in order to appear to be like us. For example, asking your date of birth, and then mentioning that it is their date of birth also, can have the unconscious effect of making you like them more – and hence more likely to agree to their requests.
While it is unlikely that any one of these psychological ploys on their own would be sufficient to persuade someone to do something that is against their best interests, in combination they can be powerful tools for a con artist. But by being aware of, and understanding, these five simple psychological principles, people are far more likely to be able to resist them and avoid being scammed.
Puerto Vallarta has more vacation rental scams than actual vacation rental properties available. What makes scamming people so appealing to these thieves? It's the . . .
