BEWARE ! Carnival Time Home-rental Scams

Carnivals in the interior of the country are an opportunity for criminals to defraud people through the rental of residences, with some being rented multiple times to different victims.

Luis Perea, a National Police major, told AM News that they have already dealt with cases of people who rent beach houses, pay in advance and when they arrive at the site the real owners inform them that it is a lie.

According to Perea, houses have been found that have been rented up to six times for the same day.

He stressed that the scams occur through web pages, social networks, and cell phones, payment is made by bank transfer and there is never physical contact with the criminal who assembles information extracted from the internet.

He recommended that people not rent homes if they have never seen them, do not know the owners, and not make bank transfers if they do not know that the house really exists.