Santa Cruz County warning visitors about vacation rental scams

Tourism is the bread and butter of Santa Cruz County’s economy, especially during the summer months. It’s the second largest industry, following agriculture.

But sheriff deputies said some people are taking advantage of tourists, through online vacation rental scams.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor John Leopold said it’s disheartening that some tourists become victims of online fraud in the county.

“It’s terrible to think that people who are looking to have a vacation and enjoy the beautiful area of Santa Cruz are getting ripped off by people who want to take advantage of people,” Leopold said.

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office is investigating several reports of online vacation scams. When making a reservation, deputies say don’t use cash, cash cards or debit cards because you may not get that money back if it’s a scam.

County supervisors are also making changes to better protect tourists.

“In order to make sure we can collect our transient occupancy tax and know who’s actually paying the tax, we’re requiring all vacation rentals on their advertising to display a unique TOT identifying number,” Leopold said.

The change will go into effect at the end of August. Leopold said it will help people identify verified vacation rentals.

The county is also creating a vacation rental online database that should be up in August as well. On the site, people will be able to look up addresses and contact information for rentals so there’s more verification.