Method of payment

I sent a postal money order in USD to an owner for half payment of a rental week, and was told she has been to four American banks non of which would cash or deposit the money. Has anybody run into this problem as a renter; I have no idea how to proceed as the money has been paid by me and I am leery of sending further funds.

joannen13 wrote:

I sent a postal money order in USD to an owner for half payment of a rental week, and was told she has been to four American banks non of which would cash or deposit the money. Has anybody run into this problem as a renter; I have no idea how to proceed as the money has been paid by me and I am leery of sending further funds.

You do not indicate whether it was a RedWeek rental ad to which you responded or whether the ad to which you responded was posted somewhere else. Please clarify and specify. I hope that it wasn't a "Craigslist" ad you answered. In my opinion, that particular venue has (and attracts) FAR too many scammers, spammers and other opportunists and parasites.

In any case, this doesn't sound right. It is inconceivable that a person could not deposit a USPS-issued money order into HER OWN U.S. bank account. Money orders are acquired with CASH, as you know. It is also beyond my comprehension that someone who owns a timeshare would not have their own bank account, so I cannot understand (or believe) any alleged need to go to four different banks. SOMETHING is clearly very wrong here.

Are you confident that you are renting from a legitimate timeshare owner --- and not just sending payment to some scammer? Did you personally verify with the resort that this particular person, with a specific name and address provided to the resort, actually OWNS whatever it is that she is attempting to rent to you --- BEFORE you sent that money order?

If you believe this person (I'm dubious, personally) you could ask her to immediately return the original Money Order directly to you. You can then recoup the funds at the Post Office and pay your deposit and balance by some other guaranteed means (PayPal?) --- but only AFTER verifying her ownership. If she declines or refuses to return the original money order (that she claims cannot be cashed or deposited anyhow), that refusal might be an indication that you are being scammed.

In NO scenario should you send ANY funds to "cover" that money order amount. In fact, do not send another penny by ANY means until you get to the bottom of what is going on here. Personally, I'm just not buying the story that she "couldn't cash or deposit the money order". That odd claim just makes no sense at all; SOMETHING is plainly amiss here.

The only reason I can think of off the top of my head for someone being unable to cash or deposit a USPS money order at a U.S. bank would be inability to provide acceptable identification which matches the payee name on the money order. This would occur (just presenting a hypothetical) if a scammer provided a bogus name to OBTAIN the payment, but then couldn't "back up" that bogus name with any valid identification acceptable to a U.S. bank when later attempting to actually CASH the money order.

I would be suspicious . If this person is renting out a timeshare I would expect them to have a bank account where they can deposit the check . I wouldn't be comfortable with someone running around town trying to cash a check .

Joanne,

Please Contact Us (support@redweek.com) with the email address or posting number of the person you are renting from. We would like to look up their account to see how long they have been a RedWeek member and if we see any red flags on their account.

Thanks,

Phyllis

The posting number is R611314, I checked with the resort and they are owners and often rent out these units. My money order was purchased in Canada but in USD.

Thanks, Joanne. Our Fraud team is currently looking into the issue and I will send you a reply by email once they get back with me.