Home Exchange Scams?

Mixing home exchange and rentals on the same site can lead to problems. The informal vacation home rental community has been plagued by such crimes for years. I am worried that the evil perpetrators of these frauds are beginning to notice home exchange.

Publicizing how to do the scam doesn't strike me as a great idea. Let's just say it is a variation on the one where an African "prince" or other fake public figure gets you to send money by promising to give you additional riches.

We all know that money is not supposed to change hands in home exchange. The only way for the scammers to infiltrate our home exchange world is to play on greed.

Let's not mix home exchange and rentals. To rent a vacation home, use a reputable site that has lots of consumer reviews and takes credit cards. That way you are protected if the vacation home isn't up to snuff.

Home owners should do the same to protect themselves from rubber checks, a key feature of the sort of fraud I am discussing.

You can, and should, swap or rent a home, according to your preferences. But rentals don't belong on home exchange sites. The new scams show us that.