A sign posted at Bamboo Apartments in Holmes Beach April 8. An internet scammer created a phony rental agreement for a Bamboo unit and used it to defraud a Delaware couple. Islander Photo: Kane Kaiman
There’s never a good time for a fake-ation.
On Valentine’s Day, Delaware resident Rob Sweeney surprised his wife with an April trip to Holmes Beach.
But they were both in for a surprise April 2 as they pulled up to their Bamboo Apartments unit.
“Somebody pulled in right behind our car. And I got out and he goes, ‘Oh, this is our unit,’” Sweeney said April 8.
Sweeny promptly called property manager Alice Sutton, who said the Sweeneys didn’t have a reservation.
“And then I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, we got frauded,’” Sweeney said.
He paid for the weeklong April stay in January after communicating with “Damian Janssen,” who reached out via email as Sweeney browsed a HomeAway/Vrbo website.
Janssen sent him a four-page rental agreement that included a property ID number and listed Doug Stewart and Sutton as property owners.
The agreement contained credit card payment instructions. Sweeney was directed to a URL with the phrase “send-money-to-ireland” where he input Stewart’s information, including a residence in Dublin, Ireland.
“I got caught up in everything, you know, thinking, ‘Oh, I got a nice property.’ And the price was pretty reasonable and, obviously, it wasn’t real,” Sweeney said.
He paid $1,150 for the stay, money that…
