Dunsborough holiday rental owner warns of potential scam website

Dunsborough holiday rental owner Ian Wiese discovered the website when he had a call from someone inquiring about the home.

He said the caller asked about certain dates which were advertised as available on the Travel Advisor Pro website.

However, Mr Wiese did not know about his property being on the website and found the incorrect information along with photos of the home.

Mr Wiese pays for his rental property to be advertised on stayz.com.au and said the photos were copied from there to be put on www.traveladvisorpro.net.

“My concern is someone will get stung and turn up in Dunsborough to find no accommodation,” he said.

He has since put a warning on the stayz website but wanted more people to be cautious.

Consumer Protection South West coordinator Debbie Butler said the website was currently under investigation but ScamNet has released a warning because of the early signs of it being a scam.

“In this type of scam it is generally the consumer who is defrauded but that doesn’t mean that the owners of the property are not impacted,” she said.

Ms Butler said there was a similar incident in Bunbury when someone’s home was being advertised on Gumtree as accommodation for the music event Groovin The Moo.

“Pictures of the house had been put on GumTree and people had booked and paid for the accommodation and only contacted local police when the mobile phone number that they were communicating to was no longer being attended,” she said.

Ms Butler said some of the tell tale signs of a rental scam include the rent amount being asked for is quite cheap for the quality of the property and the website administrator won’t speak over the phone or in person.

Anyone who has booked a property through Travel Advisor Pro (TAP) should contact WA ScamNet at Consumer Protection by calling 1300 30 40 54.

For more information about protecting your holiday home rental visit http://www.scamnet.wa.gov.au/scamnet/Fight_Back-Protect_Yourself.htm