How do you avoid vacation rental scams in Orlando?

A vacation rental scam rarely looks like one: the house is real, the photos are great and the “owner” texts back in minutes. Almost everything that separates a safe booking from a scam can be checked for free, on official websites, before you pay.

What are the most common Orlando vacation rental scams?

The usual ones are a copied listing of a real home, a deal posted in a Facebook group, an offer to book “off the platform”, a request to pay by Zelle or wire transfer and a cloned website of a known company.

The Federal Trade Commission received nearly 65,000 reports of rental scams since 2020, with about $65 million in reported losses and a median loss of $1,000. In the 12 months through June 2025, about half of the people who reported one said it started with a fake ad on Facebook, and 16% said it started on Craigslist. The data covers all rentals and likely reflects only a fraction of the harm, since most people never report. Across all scam types, almost 30% of people who lost money in 2025 said it started on social media, with Facebook first and WhatsApp and Instagram next.

A copied listing reuses a real home’s photos at a lower price. Paying “off the platform” also means losing the platform’s protection. Be extra careful around high demand dates like Christmas in Orlando, when the rush makes people skip the checks.

How can you tell if an Orlando vacation rental is legit?

Check the home outside the listing. Each step takes minutes.

1. Reverse image search. Upload two or three listing photos to Google Images (Google Lens) or TinEye. If the same home shows up under another name, another price or for sale, be suspicious. The FTC also suggests searching the address with the owner’s or company’s name.
2. Address on the map. On Google Maps and Street View, check that the house, street and pool match the photos and that the address is inside the resort named in the listing.
3. Call the resort. For homes inside a resort, the FTC advises calling the front desk to confirm the location and the details in your contract. Get a copy of the contract before you send any deposit.
4. Who owns it. The county Property Appraiser site shows the registered owner of every address (property-appraiser.org in Osceola County, home to Kissimmee and ChampionsGate; Polk and Orange have their own). If the person renting is not the owner, ask how they are connected.
5. Live video call. Ask them to open the door to the lanai (the screened pool deck) or film the house number from the street. Someone with stolen photos can’t.
6. Company on Sunbiz. Sunbiz, Florida’s official business registry, shows whether a company is active, its filing date, address, registered agent, officers and annual reports. You can look up ORLANDO BEST PLACE LLC the same way.
7. License with the DBPR. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation publishes a database of licensed vacation rentals, updated daily, with the address of each unit. You can also search by name in “Verify a License”.
8. Web address. ICANN Lookup (lookup.icann.org) shows when a domain was registered. The browser padlock only proves the connection is encrypted, not that the business is honest.

No single check proves everything, because scammers can register companies too. What protects you is the sum. To see what each local manager publishes about booking and cancellation, read our comparison of Orlando vacation rental companies.

Is the rental legal? Orlando short-term rental laws

A legal vacation home needs a DBPR state license, a county registration to collect tourist tax and a location where short-term rentals are allowed.

State license. The DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants issues two vacation rental license types:

License type	What it covers
Vacation Rental, Dwelling	Single family homes, townhouses and buildings with up to four units (duplex, triplex, quadruplex)
Vacation Rental, Condominium	A unit or group of units in a condominium or cooperative

A license can be individual, group (units in one complex) or collective, issued to an agent managing up to 75 units at different addresses, so the name on it may be the owner’s or the manager’s. What matters is that the home’s address is in the database.

County registration. Osceola County lists three steps: confirm with zoning that the home can be rented, get the DBPR license and register a Local Business Tax Receipt with the Tax Collector. The county charges a 6% Tourist Development Tax on stays under 180 days and says it has no agreement with Airbnb, Vrbo or other platforms, so the host collects it. In Polk County, where Davenport is, each home needs a Class B Local Business Tax Receipt, issued only with a DBPR license. The tax rates are in Orlando vacation rental fees and taxes.

Zoning. This is where many “downtown Orlando” listings fall apart:

• Osceola has a short-term rental map and an official list of approved subdivisions. The version revised in May 2022 has about 250 entries, including ChampionsGate, Reunion Resort & Club, Windsor Hills and The Cove at Storey Lake. If the community is not listed, check the map or call county zoning at 407-742-0200.
• Unincorporated Orange County only allows renting a single family home for under 30 days in the R-3 zone; stays of up to 179 days are limited to commercial and industrial zones and Planned Developments that allow them.
• City of Orlando: since July 1, 2018, only home sharing is allowed, with the resident present during the stay. Renting out the whole house is not.

Resorts and HOAs have their own rules too. Why most vacation homes cluster in Kissimmee and Davenport is explained in where to stay in Orlando.

Is it safe to pay by Zelle, wire transfer or debit card?

Not when you are paying someone you don’t know. Zelle and wires move money right away and are very hard to undo. The FTC puts it plainly: if someone insists you pay by wire, gift card or cryptocurrency, it’s a scam, because paying that way is the same as sending cash. Zelle says it does not offer purchase protection and recommends not using it to pay people you don’t know.

A credit card puts you in the strongest position. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA), you can dispute a charge for something that was not delivered as agreed. Your letter must reach the card issuer within 60 days after the first statement with the charge was sent, at the address for billing inquiries, not the payment address. While the issuer investigates, you can withhold payment on the disputed amount. The FCBA process covers credit cards and revolving charge accounts, so if you pay by debit card, ask your bank what dispute rights apply.

Payment method	Can you get your money back if the home doesn’t exist?
Credit card, through a known payment processor	Yes, by disputing the charge with your issuer under the FCBA, within 60 days
Debit card	Depends on your bank. Report it right away
Zelle	Usually not. Zelle says it has no purchase protection
Wire transfer	Only if the bank or wire company can reverse it. Report it immediately
Gift card or cryptocurrency	Almost never. No legitimate company asks for it

Pay on the company’s own website, never through a link texted to you. At Orlando Best Place, payments are processed by Stripe, certified as a PCI Service Provider Level 1 (the strictest level of the card security standard), and the final price with cleaning and taxes shows before you pay. Since May 12, 2025, the FTC requires short-term lodging, including vacation rentals, to show the total price with mandatory fees up front and to disclose taxes before you enter payment details. To know what a realistic total looks like, see how much an Orlando vacation rental costs.

What should you do if you were scammed?

Act the same day: call your bank, save the evidence and report it.

1. Save everything. Screenshot the listing, profile, messages, contract, receipt and web address.
2. Call your bank or payment app. The FTC says to tell your bank, card issuer, app or wire company right away that it was a scam and ask them to reverse the payment.
3. Report it. File with the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. If the scammer says they are in another country, the FTC points to econsumer.gov. The FTC also suggests telling local police, the site where the ad ran and your state attorney general. In Florida, that is the Office of the Attorney General at myfloridalegal.com.
4. Watch out for the second scam. After a loss, people show up offering to recover your money for a fee. The FTC warns that government agencies and legitimate organizations never charge to help with a refund, and that scammers trade lists of victims.

Red flags and what to do

Red flag	What to do
Price far below similar homes in the same resort	Compare it with other homes in that resort
Deal posted in a Facebook group	Run a reverse image search and ask for the full address
Pressure (“another family is booking today”)	Don’t pay on impulse. Scams depend on urgency
Request to pay by Zelle, wire or gift card	Ask to pay by credit card through a known processor. If not, don’t book
Refuses a live video call	Walk away
Address not in the DBPR database, or company not on Sunbiz	Ask for an explanation in writing, or walk away
Final price only after payment	Ask for the total with cleaning and taxes first

In practice: before you send any money, spend 15 minutes on four checks: a reverse search of two photos, the address on the map, the company on Sunbiz and the address in the DBPR database. If everything matches, pay by credit card on the company’s own website. If someone keeps pushing for Zelle or a wire, that push is your answer.

Questions about a booking with Orlando Best Place? Contact our support team or WhatsApp +1 (407) 719-1493, 24/7 in English, Portuguese and Spanish. To weigh a home against a hotel, read is an Orlando vacation rental worth it, or browse homes in search.