December 3, 2008 HOME DETAILED SEARCH BROWSE LISTINGS DEALS & SPECIALS MYPADS COMMUNITY FORUMS HELP/ADVICE Jump directly to a listing! Listing ID: Welcome to VacationPads. LOGIN | BECOME A MEMBER! Back to Help and Advice One of the great features of the VacationPads.com website is the quick, free and easy method of contact via the contact forms available with every published listing. These contact forms gather important relevant rental information which is immediately emailed to the associated owner/property manager to initiate an efficient and convenient exchange of communication between the rental parties. Unfortunately, the efficiency and visibility of the contact form also lends itself to abuse by unscrupulous individuals who "spam" property owners/managers via the form. Since property owner/manager emails are not published and are not publicly available on the VacationPads.com website, spammers may attempt to use the contact forms to lure our members into responding to their inquiry via email, effectively "stealing" their email address and potentially other identifying information. Spammers may also attempt to acquire a property owner's address, bank information or vacation rental address to use for illegitimate purposes. While this is in direct violation of the VacationPads Terms of Service Agreement -- not to mention illegal -- the VacationPads website and email system have no way of determining whether an inquiry is real or "fake" since messages cannot be individually censored prior to sending. 'False' rental inquiries are inquiries received via the VacationPads.com website that are not genuine requests for property information. These emails are best described as deceitful, as they put forth a rental request that the sender has absolutely no interest in; they are, in fact, a trap. While the information contained in the inquiry may seem valid, the sender of the inquiry is often ill-intentioned, usually attempting to harvest an owner's email address or other identifying personal information for illegitimate purposes. Ah - the million dollar question! False rental inquiries are purposely alluring and may seem valid at face-value, since the sender wants you to respond with your email address. However, there are some common attributes of these inquiries that may help to distinguish the real from the not-so-real: An offer too good to be true Always keep in mind the old saying, "if it's too good to be true, it probably is." False rental inquiries typically seem to be quite attractive since they oftentimes request rentals for a lengthy stay. Remember, the spammer wants you to reply so they do their best to make an attractive proposition. Also be suspicious of any up front offers such as putting down a large deposit or paying a premium on your rates, especially if you've never had prior contact with the individual. If you don't even have rate information published for your listing and you receive an inquiry proposing an unusually attractive amount, beware of this inquiry! "Broken" language or extremely poor grammar A common thread of many false inquiries seems to be very poor grammar in whatever language the inquiry is written in. While it's quite possible that foreigners may contact you regarding a rental, their inquiry will likely either be in their native language or will be an abbreviated, concise inquiry if they're attempting to write in a non-native language. Irrelevant requests If you, for example, maintain an updated Availability Calendar for your listing and receive an inquiry that spans dates that are clearly blocked-out in your calendar, continue reading with caution. If your property is a single-bedroom accommodation, beware of inquiries claiming family or large-group travel. Name/occupation proclamations If an inquiry starts right out saying "My name is so-and-so and I'm a high-flying-executive", continue reading the inquiry with caution. Such proclamations are oftentimes attempts to impress you so that you feel compelled into responding. The contact forms cannot be submitted without providing a name in the Name textbox of the form, so re-stating this information in the message body is suspicious. And unless evident in other parts of an inquiry, there usually aren't valid reasons for disclosing one's occupation. I smell a rat... If an inquiry just sounds strange or doesn't make much sense, or it is blatantly demanding, chances are higher that it could be a false inquiry. If you've just read an inquiry and are thinking, "Whoa, that's a weird email", stick with your first thoughts - they're usually correct! Fake phone numbers Phone numbers are not required to submit the contact form available with your listing. If a phone number is provided, is it in a format that is consistent with it's associated country (countries are required if providing a phone number, and are published next to the phone number in the inquiry!)? Is the phone number a string of the same digits (such as 888-8888)? If the inquiry seems suspicious and a phone number is provided, it might be well worth your while to attempt to first contact the individual via telephone. If you call someone and there's no answer, or a wrong number, do not respond to the inquiry via email! Strange email addresses Email addresses are required to submit the contact form available with your listing. Does the email look suspicious, such as a bunch of digits? If there is a country-specific extension associated with the address (such as .au, .jp, .br), is this extension consistent with the stated country of the inquiry? For a list of email extensions and where they typically originate, please refer to the "Root-Zone" information found at http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm. While this may not always be a good indicator, use this in combination with other features of the email to help build a risk profile. Please, Stranger, take my money! Initial inquiries that immediately offer to remit payment - without even knowing the rental specifics - are especially suspicious. People are usually cautious with their money (especially when sending money to strangers or unknown businesses), so always be on the lookout for someone who makes an offer to pay you immediately. Watch for alerts sent by VacationPads! We perform periodic audits on all rental inquiries sent by the VacationPads system. If we detect a pattern of abuse or receive feedback from our members regarding fake inquiries, we will send a notification to our members alerting them of the suspicious inquiry. Typically, we catch these inquiries 24-48 hours after they've been sent from the system (the send-date is stamped on the email you receive from our site!). Here are a couple examples of false inquiries we've encountered in the past, as well as other inquiries forwarded by our members from other sites: Inquiry Am planning on a holiday and would like to rent your place advertised if its still free.Its starting{other things being eqaul} from end of 1st june 2005 and would last for 3consecutive weeks...I would like to book this place in advance.Revert to me with pictures,availability and rates so we can negotiate modalities.i will like to know if you are the owner.. I await to hear from you XXX XXXXX (name omitted) +44XXXXXXXXXX (phone number omitted) Why is this suspicious? "Its starting{other things being eqaul} from end of 1st june 2005" -- This makes no sense! "Revert to me with pictures,availability and rates so we can negotiate modalities." -- If your listing has published pictures, rates and availability, this is an awfully strange request! Also, what does "negotiate modalities" mean? This individual included a telephone number in the inquiry's message, but didn't put the phone number in the phone number field of the contact form. Overall, the grammar and punctuation in this inquiry is sloppy. Inquiry Hello, I am Dr.XXX XXXXX (name omitted). a Medical Practitioner. I want to come over with my family from Great Britain for Holiday for three months.I will like to rent this apt and get it ready before my arrival. Provide me adequate information on your rent procedures, xxx@yahoo.com.au (email address omitted) Why is this suspicious? "I am Dr.XXX XXXXX (name omitted). a Medical Practitioner" -- Beware of occupation proclamations! This individual claims to be from the UK, yet has an Australian email address (as denoted by the .au email extension. "I will like to rent this apt and get it ready before my arrival." -- Aren't all rentals "ready" before a guest's arrival? A three-month booking! That's unusual in-and-of itself, so treat these requests with special caution! The email address is repeated in the body of the email, even though the contact form has a specific location to include the renter's email address. Overall, the grammar and punctuation in this inquiry is sloppy. Inquiry I will like to know the total costs so i can pay in advance prior to then.Please be elaborate on salient issues like accurate details and your contact number{s}, The name and address where you will get this payment prior to then as i would like to pay immediately you confirm that the dates are available.I will be making payment with a money order or check.depends on the preferred. Why is this suspicious? This was a follow-up email sent to the property owner after the owner had responded to the original request. Aside from the awful grammer and funky phrases ("salient issues"), this email is fishing for personal information about the property owner even though the owner alerted the individual that this property wasn't available during the requested timeframe! Typically, a combination of the above-mentioned attributes will be present in a false inquiry. But the bottom line and golden rule to follow when you have a possible false inquiry: follow your instincts! If you think that the email "sounds fishy" or doesn't quite add up, the best thing to do is not respond to the inquiry. It's always better to be safer than sorry! If you decide to respond to an inquiry that seems suspicious: Do not reveal any personal information about yourself or your property (such as it's address) If possible, respond to the inquiry using an email address that is not your primary email address If you respond to a suspicious inquiry and receive a response that is demanding or a repetition of a prior email, discontinue any further contact with the individual. First and foremost, do not immediately respond to the inquiry! Instead, forward the inquiry to our support staff at support@vacationpads.com. We will investigate the inquiry and look for a possible pattern against other members' inquiries. It is often the case that when one suspicious inquiry is sent, several others will follow and our system is capable of tracking and logging these patterns. Please remember that in our response to you, we can only offer evidence of a pattern associated with the inquiry; we cannot say with absolute certainty whether an inquiry is false or not. Our primary concern is the safety and satisfaction of our site members and visitors. Should we suspect potential abuse of our system, we will contact the relevant parties involved which include (1) those members who may have received the false inquiry, (2) the email provider of the initiator of the inquiry, (3) the Internet Service Provider (ISP) from which the inquiry was generated and (4) in the case of threatening or abusive emails, we reserve the right to notify law enforcement. Please remember that while we can attempt to control abuses of our system, we cannot prevent it. The Internet is worldwide, anonymous and free-roaming. False inquiries never contain valid or authentic information, so tracking their source proves to be a daunting and difficult feat. In closing, please remember that the overwhelming majority of rental inquiries are, in fact, authentic! False inquiries are a reality of the Internet, including other vacation rental websites that utilize freely availably contact forms. Unfortunately, it only takes a few rats to spoil the fun for everyone, so we'll continue to do our best to minimize their impact on you! Thanks for your continued support of VacationPads.com, and best of luck to you and your vacation rental business! About Us | Site Map | VacationPads Tell-A-Friend | Terms and conditions | Privacy | Resources | Contact Us/Support Copyright © 2008 VacationPads LLC. All Rights Reserved. VacationPadsTM, VacationPads.comTM and the VacationPads frog logo are trademarks and/or service marks of VacationPads LLC. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service agreements.  External links will open in a new browser window. 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