OMG [My house listed on VRBO without permission]

[Paumavista]

Not sure of where to post this........
We have our home listed for sale - in MLS & on Realtor
Since we will need to find a place to live between selling this home and moving into our new one I just happened to look at VRBO (thinking short term rental) - - what do I find.......MY HOUSE
Someone has copied all the pictures from the MLS listing and listed the home for rent by owner - (some number in FL) - It is a relatively new listing with no scheduled rentals on the calendar but OMG......someone is trying to rent my house (they're even including my boat use in the rental!!!!!)
Obviously we contacted VRBO who verified us as the owners of the house and removed the listing....but that's all......I don't think they did ANYTHING else
So then I start thinking.....short term rental......let me check Craigslist there it is again!!!! My house is also listed as a vacation rental on Craigslist.....we've notified Craigslist and marked it as spam!! But since we didn't post it we can't take it down.....

What else can we do??????
ANY advice?

 

[am1]

Ask them if they want to buy your house. Or contact them about renting it.

 

[ronparise]

You cant do much. but I would post my own ad or notice on Craigs list advising folks of the scam attempt

My biggest problem on Craigs list where I advertise my legit vacation rentals. is convincing folks Im for real. because they see so many scam attempts

 

[garzagoer]

Yes, I have seen this done with equipment for sale on kijiji as well. They will take pictures of someone else's equipment and then advertise for sale, they will usually include free shipping with the option to return it free if you don't like what you see when it arrives. The catch is they ask for 50% down before shipping, you can kiss that money goodbye.

 

[VacationForever]

Try calling the police?

 

[Rascalsmom]

Make sure your realtor is aware!

This happened to a friend in Louisville last fall - neighbors saw moving trucks and contacted him because they knew the house wasn't for rent! A young family was moving into his house and the money they sent the scammer was long gone.

Then a couple of months ago my daughter brought home a listing for a house she and her friends were thinking of renting in Nashville. SAME situation! The house was for sale and someone placed fake rental ads with a story about how he just wanted someone to take care of his property for a couple of years until he came back to the USA. Of course first month's rent and a security deposit equal to another month's rent was due upon signing the lease. Plus he was collecting a lot of personal information on the "application for rental". Thankfully, the girls hadn't sent him any money yet.

The Nashville realtor was very grateful when I called her. She was completely unaware until then.

 

[PStreet1]

Contacting them about renting the house is a great suggestion. Then contact the police in Florida and alert them. Police do deal with computer crime of this sort, and with the phone number, they can find the person.

 

[pjrose]

Wow, this is horrible!

Also contact the Attorney General offices in Florida and also where the house is located. I hope you have screen snapshots of the ads and phone numbers.

 

[Paumavista]

Thank you for all the suggestions....

We were just so surprised to come across the listing we hardly knew what to do. I have probably rented off VRBO at least a dozen times and I never considered a scam....ie that it wasn't their house to rent! I always talk to the person renting the house but other than a phone conversation and mailing address for the check I haven't done much else to verify the validity of the rental. (the address is good; the pictures great; an "owner" phone number provided)
In addition to the fear of someone showing up at my door step this has really scared me about renting! We have rented thru Redweek, VRBO, TUG, HomeAway, MyResortNetwork, Ebay and probably other sources I've forgotten (we just rented at Barony last month)........Right now I am just VERY grateful that we have never had a problem but this is an eye opener.....not sure exactly how to protect myself in the future other than to rent from agencies and pay the additional costs involved (maybe longtime TUG members who have LOTS of posts?).
We have told our realtor and we are taking a number of other steps as suggested.
It has just been one of those WOW moments......and if it weren't for the coincidence of my using VRBO for a local interim rental (I've never actually searched my own city for a vacation rental) I never would have come across this or followed up with a search on Craigslist.
Buyer beware............

 

[pjrose]

Always talk to the person via phone and get a real street address and full name. Make small talk to get a feel for the person; how long have they owned it? what's the neighborhood like? What's the view? Maybe their interests and occupation will come up. If they sound at all fishy, or if they're spinning lines about it being their sister's aunt's house, she's going through a divorce right now, the house is empty, they're trying to help her out.....no thanks.

Then hit Google with the name, phone number, address, etc, to confirm. Check satellite view and street view on Google maps. Also look at Facebook.

You can probably weed out the fake names, fake numbers, and mail drops (PO boxes with a whole lot of businesses listed at the same address) that way.