If an offer is unusually cheap, or still available when there are no equivalent properties available, view it with caution.

A genuine accommodation offer will appear on at least one listing site if not several. If the only place it is advertised seems to be Facebook or some classified ads site like Gumtree, then it's probably fake.

Use Google to find other listings for the same propery. Google's Reverse Image Search is really useful for this.

Nearly all accommodation websites show an availability calendar. If you don't see one, it's an indication that something is not right! Either the owner hasn't made the effort or you're looking at a fake offer. Be cautious even if there is an active calendar for the same property on one of the major sites because this might be a cloned listing.

It's painfully easy for a scammer to create a fake copy of a website or page.

So, a genuine property on one of the major listing sites could reappear as a direct booking opportunity on its own site like www.best-holiday-cottage-in-the-world.com and it could look very convincing. You can be reassured that the site is genuine by some of the following:

• The availability calendar shown on this site closely matches the availability on a major site
• There are photos on this site which are the same property but don't appear on a major site
• There is a phone number shown on the site
• Check the website's domain name registration date. If it is long-established, it's probably OK
• If the owner's name is shown, check that it matches the name on one of the major sites

It's unusual for the owner or manager of a property to be in a completely different time zone to the property itself. If you are receiving emails replies to your queries at a time that would be the night time in the location, you might be dealing with a scammer on a different continent.

If you are offered a discount for paying early: run!

Scammers want to take your money as early as possible. They may insist that full payment is made on booking even if the date of the stay is months away. Real hosts will want a deposit from you on booking to show that you are committed. But the rental payment date is more likely to be a few weeks before your stay.

The purpose of cross-checking is to see that you're getting the best price while looking out for signs that anything could be wrong.

1. See details of the property on all the sites where it is listed. You can use Google searches for this or a website like hichee.com that attempts to cross-match listings across multiple sites.
2. Check that the calendars show similar availability.
3. See all the reviews. Do they reveal anything alarming?
4. Find the location on Streetview. Major sites deliberately show a slightly incorrect location. However, using the photos combined with Google's Streetview, you can probably find the exact location. This might reveal something that you didn't know.
5. In some locations, short term lets have to be licensed and there should be a licence number shown on the advertising. If you are dealing with an unlicensed property in an area where licences are required, there may be trouble ahead.

Just speak to the owner or manager of the property before you pay. There are several reasons for this.

Always dial the number that was shown on the owner's website, never a number that was sent to you in an email.

The owner will be delighted to speak to you. Just verbally confirm the details of the payment. That's all you need to do.

This protects you against a hijacked email account. When an owner's email account has been hijacked, you would be exchanging emails with a scammer and the owner would know nothing about your booking. The phone call just checks that the owner is the same person that you have exchanged emails with.

It's normal practice for an owner to "hold the dates" for you, in order to give you time to complete the booking procedure and pay any deposit. During that time you should see on the property website that your dates are no longer available. That's just a bit of reassurance that all is well.