AS short-term rental scams become more sophisticated, real estate expert Roger Allen is warning that fraudsters are misusing booking platforms like Airbnb in many ways, including renting homes then illegally listing them online without the property owners’ consent, and using fake listings to swindle unsuspecting customers.

The second vice-president of the Realtors Association of Jamaica (RAJ) said the extent of booking platforms-related fraud became apparent during a meeting with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) last year, during which he and other members of the RAJ were briefed on numerous scams involving short-term rental properties.

“There are persons thinking that they have more or less rented a property or leased an Airbnb and, in terms of the payments, some of them are being urged to go outside of the platform to make payment and that sort of thing,” Allen told the Jamaica Observer.

He added that he is also aware of instances in which people rented a property listed on Airbnb, removed its furniture, then listed it for rent, bilking individuals out of thousands of dollars.

In a recent post on X, formerly Twitter, one user recounted how a woman she knew was allegedly defrauded of $190,000 through a similar scheme. According to the post, the woman signed a rental agreement and was given keys to the property, only to later discover that the house was an Airbnb rental and the individual who collected her deposit had no authority to rent it.

Allen said another emerging scam involves fraudsters renting properties legitimately before listing them on booking platforms as short-term vacation rentals without the owners’ knowledge or consent.

“In our space, in terms of the realtors in our groups…I could tell you that for last year 2025, even up to Christmas, I have seen and received information from members of over 20 instances. A number of them, I recall, have been reported…One of the things that we have found out, and the JCF has also said, is that from embarrassment and otherwise, given the circumstances of some of these situations, some of the property owners are just choosing to deal with the matter through their own ways, which again is not recommended because, as much as possible, persons need to be brought under the full book of the law,” he told the
Sunday Observer.

ALLEN…another emerging scam involves fraudsters renting properties legitimately before listing them on booking platforms as short-term vacation rentals without the owners’ knowledge or consent

He noted that as these scams become increasingly sophisticated, real estate professionals are adapting their practices and strengthening verification measures to reduce the risk of fraud for both property owners and prospective tenants.

“One of the things we say to clients is that, ‘You may want to insist in the contract, in the lease agreement, that there’s no subletting of the property,’ because some of the persons even want to legitimately operate the property in short-term rentals and some of them will try to get in the property and not even disclose that if they’re going to sublet it,” said Allen.

He urged homeowners, prospective buyers, and renters to use real estate agents to minimise their risks.

“We are what you call licensed operators. We are licensed annually. It’s not that we get the licence when we do the certification and we have the licence for life. Every year we have to renew that licence, and importantly, we have continued professional development courses and other regulatory stuff in keeping with proceeds of crime, anti-money laundering, all these things, and not to mention strict guidelines in terms of the Real Estate [Dealers and] Developers Act in terms of how we operate,” insisted Allen.

He urged the public to keep an eye out for warning signs, noting that every realtor has a dealer number and a licence number that can be checked and verified. If these numbers are not displayed or an individual wants to confirm a realtors status, he said individuals can make checks to confirm the legitimacy of realtors at the Realtors Association of Jamaica website.

“Remember, scammers are looking for any and every opportunity to please persons. If you want to go and see a property, whether you want to lease it or whether you want to buy it, there is no deposit that is required. We do some vetting on all of that, but nothing like that in terms of collecting fees, so we want to alert the public in that regard,” he added.