Craigslist vacation rental scam

Lynne Daniels and her husband own the $5 million,9 bedroom Dupont Estate Resort in La Quinta. While they do rent the property as a vacation rental,they were alarmed to see the property listed on Craigslist. They don’t use the website, not to mention, they charge much more than $200 a day to use the three acre compound.

“Our property in the Coachella Valley’s high season is $2,725 a night. There’s also utilities, exit and housekeeping fees and a substantial security deposit that goes with,” said Daniels.

After being contacted by several people in the last week, that were quoted the $200 a day price by someone identifying himself as Matt Turner, Lynne Daniels went to work. She discovered, Turner only communicated via text messages, or voice mail, while claiming, he couldn’t take phone calls because he had a hearing disability.

At first, Daniels didn’t let on she owned the propertyshe was inquiring about. She and Turner exchanged several e-mails, before one of her questions went unanswered.

“He just stopped writing me after I insisted I wanted to see the propertybecause I wasn’t going to buy anything without seeing it first,” said Daniels.

Daniels says she contacted Craigslist about the apparent fraud and was told nothing could be done about it. She has since contacted the FBI who told her they will look into the matter. In the meantime, Lynne Daniels has a message forwhomever is behind the Craigslist posting.

“That guy’s out there, I hope he sees me, cause he’s in big trouble. You can run, but you can hide. Eventually you’re gonna get caught.”