Visitors beware: What to know about short-term rental scams

As festival season approaches and more events make their way back to the Coachella Valley, short-term rentals are in high demand.

With increased demand, comes fraud and phone scams.

“I felt violated.” That was Malia Rivera’s reaction when she found her Indio home was listed on Craigslist for rent.

“I felt just that, you know, to any unsuspecting tenant or concert-goer that they could have been easily taken advantage of. I felt taken advantage of just by having my house listing out out there," Rivera said.

Rivera said she was first notified by an interested renter, who asked if her home was available during the Coachella Music Festival. That renter said she reached out because she was suspicious of the low nightly rates.

“He put a listing of our home, our description, and our pictures and was luring unknowing concert goers that are homeless for rent for just a few hundred dollars a night, which is not the case during Coachella,” Rivera explained.

Rivera decided to test out the scam for herself, by pretending to be a renter interested in her own home.

“Spoke to me about all the amenities of my own home, asked me to send money for a deposit. He even sent an invoice to submit money so that he could send the code to the home during that period.”

She said she’s thankful the good samaritan discovered the fraud listing before it was too late. “If she hadn't reached out, I don't know how many people would have fallen for this scam.”

If you are looking for a short-term rental, Palm Springs Police urges you to keep an out and do your research.

Important tips to remember:

• Use reputable websites when making reservations
• Remember that reputable companies, service providers or the IRS will not make you pay with prepaid credit cards or gift cards
• If you are being scammed, report it immediately to your local law enforcement agency

Be suspicious that the property or transaction could be a scam if:

• The advertised price is much lower than that of similar properties.
• Ads for the property have grammatical and spelling errors, or overuse capital letters.
• The ad uses uncommon spellings of words, like "favour" instead of "favor."

If you are a homeowner or landlord, consider using "Google Alerts" to notify you if your home address or description is posted anywhere online.