How do I avoid scams when booking a beach house or vacation rental online?
Book through the resort's official page or a platform that holds your payment, and before paying a downpayment to a Facebook page, call the resort on a number you found yourself, not in the chat. Fake pages copy real resorts' photos and collect downpayments for dates they cannot deliver.
The scam appears before long weekends and holidays. A page with the resort's name and photos offers a discount, chats fast, and asks for 50% by GCash to a personal account. On arrival, the real resort has no booking, and the page is gone.
What to check
- Find the official page or website and compare the name, the photos and the number.
- Call or message the resort on the official number to confirm the booking before paying.
- Look at the page's history: creation date, old posts, real guest reviews with photos.
- Be careful with a GCash account in a personal name for a business booking.
- Keep the receipt and the chat, and ask for a booking confirmation with your name and dates.
Frequently asked questions
- The page has thousands of likes. Is that enough?
- No. Likes can be bought, and pages can be renamed. History and an official number matter more.
Want to know if there are warning signs about the person you are talking to? Veritaza checks the photos, the messages, the number, the email, the name and the ID, for ₱199.
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