Property Owners

The service provided at Cancasa allows potential clients to view your property details and make contact with you directly.

Although the vast majority of enquiries you receive will be from genuine interested parties wanting to find out more information on your property, there is always the possibility of some people trying to exploit the access they have online.

Some of the most common tricks are as follows:

Overpayment

This basically involves the client overpaying the amount charged and requesting a refund for the difference from you. The excuses for overpaying the charged amount are many but they will try to get you to disburse a refund before their payment clears which obviously never does.

Emails

Most emails are sent in bulk and therefore tend to be non-specific to your property advert, for example your villa might be referred to as a house.
Many will have spelling mistakes and the grammar hardly makes sense. The messages come across as very formal and may sound religious in nature.

Premium Numbers

The use of premium numbers is widespread and the inclusion of international codes makes it difficult to notice.
It only works if you respond to calls from numbers that have a prefix like 09 before the code.

Western Union

Accept these payments only if there are no viable alternatives. Any reference to Western Union should always be approached with caution.

Unusual Bookings

Holiday lettings lasting longer than normal periods (1-2 weeks) should be treated cautiously.

How to Protect Yourself

Make a mental note of the list above and always remain alert for any potential scam.

Requesting a phone number from a potential client stating that it is a booking requirement is good practise.

Bank details should never be given until you're certain of the validity of your client.

Payments should be verified and cleared with your bank before anything is confirmed.

Following these simple guidelines will allow you to safeguard yourself from any potential problems.