Scams / Fraud

  Scam information:

Always Verify Your Reservation!

After two years of the pandemic, people in the United States and around the world are anxious to start going on vacation and traveling to visit family and friends. As a result the leisure industry is booming. Unfortunately, many unscrupulous people are taking advantage of vacationers with offers of inexpensive vacation rentals or offering vacation rentals that do not exist. There are several warning signals to pay attention to when considering a vacation rental. One of the biggest signals is a price that is way too reasonable for the vacation area it is located in. A second is an unusual amount of available rental opportunities in a high interest vacation area. If you apply for a vacation rental be sure that you talk to the rental agent/owner on the phone, be sure to get their phone number. Spammers do not want to talk to you on the phone because it can give away their location. Before you leave on vacation be sure to call and verify your reservations. If you made your reservations with one of the major vacation rental companies, be sure to call them directly and verify your reservation. The following suggestions should be used when making a reservation:

• Never pay for your reservation in cash.
• Never pay for your reservation with Gift Cards.
• Avoid using a check or money order to pay for your reservation if possible.
• Pay your reservation and security deposit with a credit card when possible. If you are a victim of a rental scam, you can dispute the charges with your credit card company and get your money back.
• Never put credit card numbers in an Email. Give credit card info directly to your rental agent/owner on the phone or use their on-line merchant account.
• Be sure to talk to your rental agent/owner on the phone before paying any reservation money. If you cannot contact the rental agent/owner or keep getting a wrong number you may be involved in a scam.
• Verify your reservation before you leave on your vacation.

Big rental companies or small, it doesn't matter. Vacation rental spamming is a big problem. Rental companies must do proper vetting of all vacation rental listings. If you are going to vacation in the US, beware of rental agents or owners that want you to send rental fees to a foreign country. The Myrtle Beach Resort Website, for example, has the majority of their owners in the United States, with a few located in Canada. None of our listed owners are from Africa, Central/South America, Europe (Eurasia), Asia, the Pacific Rim or Middle East.

Four steps you can take to protect yourself:

• Be careful with the information you share online, and the details others share about you online. Scammers often use personal or common information, such as pet names, schools you attended, links to family members, and your birthday, to send phishing emails, guess your password or answer your security questions.
• Think before clicking or downloading. Don’t click on anything in an unsolicited email, text, social media or messaging application message asking you to update or verify account information. Never open an email attachment from someone you don't know and be wary of email attachments forwarded to you.
• Verify email addresses. Carefully examine the email address, URL address, and spelling used in any emails or text messages. Scammers use slight differences to trick your eye and gain your trust.
• Compare the From address to the Reply-To address. Scammers are sometimes able to spoof a legitimate email address. Before sending a reply, confirm that the reply-to email address is accurate.

This information is provided for any
vacation planning you are involved in.