Strange Private Message from someone regarding VacationPointsExchage

[wvacations]

I have done several transactions on VacationPointsExhange as both a buyer and a seller. I have filled out the required forms and am a verified seller. Never have any problems and very greatfull to the person or persons that keep the site up and running.

I got a private message here on Tug2 from someone that noticed I was a verified seller. They claimed that they had a large amount of points they wanted to rent out but could not become verified seller because they were not located in the USA. They wanted me to list their points for rent and in exchange they would give me 1,000 Abound points.

I declined the offer as it sounded very fishy. There were a few things in the message that just didn’t seem right to me.

Wondering if anyone else received a similar PM.

 

[davidvel]

I have done several transactions on VacationPointsExhange as both a buyer and a seller. I have filled out the required forms and am a verified seller. Never have any problems and very greatfull to the person or persons that keep the site up and running.

I got a private message here on Tug2 from someone that noticed I was a verified seller. They claimed that they had a large amount of points they wanted to rent out but could not become verified seller because they were not located in the USA. They wanted me to list their points for rent and in exchange they would give me 1,000 Abound points.

I declined the offer as it sounded very fishy. There were a few things in the message that just didn’t seem right to me.

Wondering if anyone else received a similar PM.

Obviously some kind of scam. You can message TUG member @StevenTing who runs VPE, and let him know who it was so he can look out.

 

[wvacations]

Thanks, I’ll do that.

 

[StevenTing]

I think I know who it is. They’ve approached many people on many sites, including FB. They are not located in the US so I won’t verify them.

 

[daviator]

I was also contacted by these people. I don't think it's a scam, I think they have a legitimate problem they're trying to solve, but I also concluded that there was just too much risk to get involved. I suggested they try to rent the points on TUG, on Facebook, or via Go-Koala. And of course, it could also be a scam. It's hard to know for sure.

Coincidentally, I got an email today from Go-Koala, they have a new program they are testing where they offer a specified amount of money for a specific booking. So if you want to do it, you make the requested booking and Go-Koala pays you the agreed amount. Something like that might be a good option for these people.

 

[davidvel]

I was also contacted by these people. I don't think it's a scam, I think they have a legitimate problem they're trying to solve, but I also concluded that there was just too much risk to get involved. I suggested they try to rent the points on TUG, on Facebook, or via Go-Koala. And of course, it could also be a scam. It's hard to know for sure.

Coincidentally, I got an email today from Go-Koala, they have a new program they are testing where they offer a specified amount of money for a specific booking. So if you want to do it, you make the requested booking and Go-Koala pays you the agreed amount. Something like that might be a good option for these people.

Wouldn't anyone taking on the risk of middleman want a decent cut? If so, seems the person would have little marking to even break even. Did they suggest the terms of the arrangement?

We know there have been scammers stealing owners' points and points transfers getting reversed by MVC (not saying that is this person.) There is very little protection on VPE, making reputation and history very importnat in a transaction.

 

[daviator]

Yes, they were willing to pay the middleman either in Abound points or with a small cut of the proceeds. I thought what they were offering was fair (I considered doing it to help them, I wasn't really motivated by the compensation, though some people might have been) but became convinced there was just too much risk.

They were willing to transfer the points to renters ahead of receiving payment. But then I heard that there were people trying to rent stolen points out there and MVC would sometimes claw back those points after they were transferred, and I just decided it was too risky.

It's too bad that all of the fraud made it impossible for Steven to keep supporting non-US users on his platform. As in so many things, a few bad apples spoil things for everyone.

 

[dioxide45]

I think I know who it is. They’ve approached many people on many sites, including FB. They are not located in the US so I won’t verify them.

Is this just a broad policy? It seems the owner is legitimate, is there more risk because they don't live in the USA? There seems to be risk in general with any type of online transaction. They seem to be persistent and I would think their current approach, if successful, carries more risk than just verifying them?

 

[Hindsite]

Is this just a broad policy?

If its privacy related then I can understand wanting to limit it to the largest population of users. If ID is being requested then there are privacy regulations that are different in Europe and can be a pain to deal with if you're not used to dealing with them.

 

[Dean]

Is the MVC rental program available for points or only for weeks?

 

[StevenTing]

Is this just a broad policy? It seems the owner is legitimate, is there more risk because they don't live in the USA? There seems to be risk in general with any type of online transaction. They seem to be persistent and I would think their current approach, if successful, carries more risk than just verifying them?

My verification process includes 4 distinct steps that do not work with international persons. I’m not familiar enough with international identification to verify if something is legitimate. With the general introduction of AI, fraud has become much easier to commit. Last year people were using AI to generate fake licenses along with fake MVC profile screenshots.

I may have to modify my process to be similar to the social security administration of ID verification. I had to have my father go through it and it was difficult for an older person who is not tech savvy and does not hear very well. But live video verification may be the next step.

 

[davidvel]

Is this just a broad policy? It seems the owner is legitimate, is there more risk because they don't live in the USA? There seems to be risk in general with any type of online transaction. They seem to be persistent and I would think their current approach, if successful, carries more risk than just verifying them?

The whole point of the verification process, is to determine  if they are legitimate, not the other way around. While it may occur, I have never heard of an owner "willing to transfer the points to renters ahead of receiving payment," without a history of positive tranactions with a renter (I wouldnt even do it then.) Especially a foreign owner transferring through a 3rd party. This seems like a too good to be true red flag to me, and an indicator the person is not legitimate.

 

[daviator]

The whole point of the verification process, is to determine  if they are legitimate, not the other way around. While it may occur, I have never heard of an owner "willing to transfer the points to renters ahead of receiving payment," without a history of positive tranactions with a renter (I wouldnt even do it then.) Especially a foreign owner transferring through a 3rd party. This seems like a too good to be true red flag to me, and an indicator the person is not legitimate.

I had told them that I’d consider helping them if they transferred all the points they wanted fo rent to me, I’d then list them at the price they chose. Whatever didn’t rent after a reasonable period I’d transfer back to them. Obviously this would require them to trust me, but I felt it would have made the risk to me very small and would ensure that I’d be able to deliver the points immediately to renters when they paid.

They didn’t want to do that and said they’d transfer the points to renters directly and would do so before receiving payment. That just sounded too complicated and sketchy to me, I was not going to put my name out there offering to rent out points that I couldn’t personally deliver. And once I heard that there were people renting stolen points, with MVC potentially clawing those back later, I realized the risk was greater still and I told them I couldn’t help.

 

[Fasttr]

I had told them that I’d consider helping them if they transferred all the points they wanted fo rent to me, I’d then list them at the price they chose. Whatever didn’t rent after a reasonable period I’d transfer back to them. Obviously this would require them to trust me, but I felt it would have made the risk to me very small and would ensure that I’d be able to deliver the points immediately to renters when they paid.

They didn’t want to do that and said they’d transfer the points to renters directly and would do so before receiving payment. That just sounded too complicated and sketchy to me, I was not going to put my name out there offering to rent out points that I couldn’t personally deliver. And once I heard that there were people renting stolen points, with MVC potentially clawing those back later, I realized the risk was greater still and I told them I couldn’t help.

Points can only be transferred once, so your method would not have worked.

 

[daviator]

Points can only be transferred once, so your method would not have worked.

Oh, I didn’t realize that. Then good thing that didn’t happen.

 

[davidvel]

Oh, I didn’t realize that. Then good thing that didn’t happen.

Good thing for them! But definitely something fishy here. This person is scrambling around trying to offload these points to multiple people at god knows what gains if they were legit. Going to transfer on the good faith of buyer without payment? You being the "seller" but have to rely on this person giving them points? Nope, no way.

 

[daviator]

Good thing for them! But definitely something fishy here. This person is scrambling around trying to offload these points to multiple people at god knows what gains if they were legit. Going to transfer on the good faith of buyer without payment? You being the "seller" but have to rely on this person giving them points? Nope, no way.

Yes, I was not willing to act as seller unless I had control of the points to transfer them. When they weren’t willing to do that, I lost interest in helping them.

FWIW, I don’t think it would have been hard to rent their points so long as they were willing to price them just under the competition.

I did start to get the feeling there might be something fishy going on. Who knows?