"Well over half of the vacation rentals for NYC I found on CL and even VRBO were scams."

Wow? Over half? VRBO? How did you confirm so many were scams? That was one amazing statement! There are thousands of legitimate rentals on VRBO. Half were scams?

Scams - or illegal.

I wouldn;t be surprised if half of Craig's list were scams - but I had assumed most VRBO were real apartments - but illegal.

I must have been a little out of it last evening. I even copied driaz's post and still missed that he specifically said NYC. True. Yes, I'd agree that most VRBO for NYC are illegal, though not necessarily scams. To me the difference is that a scam is an apartment where the renter shows up and it doesn't exist. I suspect most of the VRBO ones, actually do get rented, but it is illegal to do so.

The scams were easy to spot. Wildly underpriced. Poor English. In some cases, the "name" of the "landlord" could already be found by complaining victims using Google. I responded to a few, they all requested cash by Western Union. I hope if I ever use these services again, results will be better.

For comparison I looked at Craigslist for my local area, and few if any of the listings look bogus.

Yes, but there are 50 million tourists coming to NYC every year - many looking for lodgings at below market prices. Naturally it will generate a lot of scams.

What is odd is that there are few hits on a Google search for Michael Tammaro.....one would think there would be many if he is about to be sentenced..??

driaz, I'm still a little confused. Were those descriptions you listed in your post at 8:57 PM regarding Craigslist or VRBO?

Neo: the bogus proportion on CL was higher. But there were also many fakes on VRBO. Indeed, CL scam posts sometimes included a VRBO link to sucker people in with pictures and an official look.

This was December 2009; one can hope that security has been beefed up.

It's a moot point, isn't it, as short term rentals are illegal in NYC? Why would a visitor take the time to try to figure out if an apartment is ultimately a scam knowing that the starting point is illegal?

A lot of tourists don't know it is illegal, some don't believe it is illegal and some don't care.

You can find the details of the Michael Tammaro scam at several places around the web:

http://michaeltammaronyc.wordpress.com
http://michaeltammarophotographer.wordpress.com
http://michaeltammaroscammer.wordpress.com
http://michaeltammaro.blogspot.com

I can't find anything about about the sentencing.....I posted at least one ofo those links up above.

He was sentenced to 3–9 years in state prison.

http://manhattanda.org/press-release...ore-40-victims

So this one guy alone scammed more than 40 sets of people.

Who knows how many other scammers there are on Craig's list and other sites?

Anyone considering subletting an apartment - be VERY sure what you are getting into! Do not trust anyone!

Here is more:


http://observer.com/2013/06/apartmen...sing-huckster/

Back then, I did not realize that the genuine apartment I rented short-term was being sublet illegally.