Police warn of scam vacation rental in Pawleys Island

Police are warning of a scam vacation rental listing in Georgetown County.

The Pawleys Island Police Department is aware of three separate scam incidents associated with the same rental house listing at 760 Springs Ave, Pawleys Island, SC 29585. The scam rental listing has been posted to Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

Police reports were filed for two of the scam incidents involving the three-bedroom Springs Ave. rental listing. No arrests have been made in connection with the apparent scams.

One of the scam victims says they lost $960 to the fake rental listing. Another says they lost $600. In both cases, the scam payments were made over CashApp, a mobile payment service app.

When one of the scam victims arrived at the rental property in late September, they found that the house was occupied by other tenants. The victim was unable to reach the rental agent with whom they signed the rental contract.

Pawleys Island Police Chief Michael Fanning said the property’s real owner isn’t carrying out the scams, and has been legitimately renting out her property.

Fanning said one sign of a scam rental is when a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

“This last one, they were charging $100 a night, which is an exceptional deal for a beachfront house in Pawleys Island,” Fanning said. “So that probably should have been the person’s first red flag — that if it’s too good to be true, it usually is.”

Fanning said the scammer has used a different name with every listing.

“It’s very convoluted,” Fanning said. “We’re trying to get to the bottom of it.”