FAQ
Vacation rental scams, answered.
Direct answers first. Longer walkthroughs live in the guides.
Someone copied my Airbnb listing - what do I do?
Capture evidence first (full-page screenshot, saved page, URL, date), then report the copy: on a marketplace, use its report form; on its own domain, send a DMCA notice to the domain's registrar and host abuse contacts, found via rdap.org. Warn future guests on your real listing that you never take off-platform payment.
How can I check if a vacation rental listing is real?
Search a distinctive sentence from the description in quotes, ask the host for a live video tour, verify the address on street view, check the host's review history, and refuse any payment outside the platform's own checkout. You can also paste the URL into Bikoosh's free checker at bikoosh.com/verify.
A landlord asked for a deposit before a viewing - is it a scam?
Almost certainly yes. Legitimate landlords and managers do not require money before you have seen a property or signed anything. Bank transfer, crypto, gift cards, or wire services for a 'reservation fee' are classic signs of an advance-fee rental scam. Walk away and report the listing.
What is listing cloning?
Listing cloning is copying a real rental property's photos and description to another website or classifieds board, changing the contact details and price, and collecting deposits from victims who believe they are booking the real property.
Does a 'no match' result from the Bikoosh checker mean a listing is safe?
No. A 'no match' result only means the listing does not match properties registered with Bikoosh. No database covers every property, so always run the standard checks too. A match, however, is a strong signal of a problem.
Why didn't reverse-image search find the stolen copy of my photos?
Scammers routinely mirror, crop, filter, and re-encode stolen photos, which defeats file-matching search engines. Catching edited copies requires perceptual hashing plus visual-similarity embeddings compared against your original photos, which is what monitoring services automate.
How do I report a fake vacation rental website?
Look up the domain at rdap.org to find its registrar and hosting provider, then email both abuse contacts with the fraudulent URL, your evidence, and - if your photos or text were copied - a DMCA takedown notice. Also report to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov (US) or Action Fraud (UK), and to the platform bank if victims paid.
Can property managers monitor for stolen listings automatically?
Yes. The practical approach combines photo fingerprinting (perceptual hashes and embeddings), exact-phrase search on distinctive description sentences, watching newly-registered domains via Certificate Transparency, and checking new posts on open classifieds boards - with alerts and prepared takedown paperwork when a copy is found. This is what Bikoosh does as a subscription.
Bikoosh provides monitoring assistance, not complete protection or legal advice.