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Rental scam 03-12-08

Hawaii Police Department
Kona Patrol Section
Acting Captain Chad Basque
Phone: 326-4646
March 12, 2008

Media Release

Hawaii County police are warning the public about a scam involving vacation rentals.

A person posing as a college student makes arrangements to rent a unit and then sends what looks like a check from a university as a deposit via FedEx.

In an e-mail, the sender claims that the university has written a grant check that includes both the amount of the rental and the student’s air fare. The sender asks the recipient to deposit the check in the recipient’s bank account and then to send the difference by Western Union to an address that supposedly belongs to the student’s travel agent.

A Kailua-Kona woman reported on Tuesday (March 11) that she received such a check. Police have confirmed this is a scam.