Finland's holiday rental market was targeted by a scammer who fraudulently advertised a Kuusamo property for a fraction of its real price, netting an estimated €1,500 to €2,000 from unsuspecting victims. The property owner, Salla Vaahersalo, discovered her Ruka holiday home was being offered without permission after a concerned single mother called her husband just before Christmas.
The Discovery of a Fake Listing
Salla Vaahersalo found out her owned holiday apartment in Ruka, Kuusamo, had been 'rented out' for fraudulent purposes last December. The apartment is in a semi-detached house, with one half for Vaahersalo's use and the other for sale and legitimate rental. The estate agent for the property alerted Vaahersalo to the scam. The fake advert spread in a Facebook group for rentals in the Kuusamo and Ruka area. 'I noticed the ad myself in the Ruka rental cabin group. It now says the listing has been removed,' Vaahersalo said. The scammer used exterior photos mirrored from the property's genuine sale listing. 'It looked real if you hadn't been to the location,' Vaahersalo described.
Too-Good-To-Be-True Pricing
The fraudulent listing advertised the holiday home for €600 per week starting from December 17th onwards. Vaahersalo stated that a €600 weekly rental price, especially during a peak season like Christmas, was significantly below market rate. 'You cannot get a cabin from that area for €600 a week during peak season. Our daily rate is €150 during peak season, up to €175 at the very peak,' she explained. In practice, a week during peak season costs over €1,200. Beyond the underpricing, Vaahersalo noticed the interior photos in the ad did not match reality. 'The pictures were a bit odd. Several people had commented in the Facebook group that they were strangely edited screenshots,' she added.
A Victim's Call Reveals the Fraud
The scheme unraveled when a victim made direct contact. 'Before Christmas, a single mother called my husband saying she had paid €600 for the apartment and had then started to suspect something was wrong. My husband told her she had been scammed,' Vaahersalo recounted. In total, the scammer managed to steal approximately €1,500 to €2,000, according to Vaahersalo's estimate. This experience has led her to change her own rental practices. She now exclusively uses established intermediary platforms for short-term rentals and avoids direct deals via Facebook groups. Vaahersalo listed Airbnb, Booking.com, and Nettimökki as her chosen services.
Learning From Personal Experience
This was not Vaahersalo's first encounter with rental fraud from the victim's side. She shared a past experience where she herself was scammed. 'I rented a house in Mallorca for my mother's 75th birthday with my close family. After I paid, the contact person disappeared. When I went to look at the house pictures on the sales site, the website was gone,' she said. This personal history informed her reaction to the scam involving her own property. 'I learned the hard way that if something sounds too good to be true, then it isn't true,' Vaahersalo reminded others. She emphasized the security of using a platform. 'An intermediary service provides a guarantee that the property exists and is being rented by the right person. It's good to have some website involved, as it protects both parties.'
The Mechanics of the Scam and Public Vigilance
The scam relied on common tactics seen in digital fraud: exploiting the trust and immediacy of local social media groups, using stolen and doctored imagery, and setting a tempting price designed to prompt quick payment from bargain hunters. The fake ad's removal from the Facebook group indicates moderators acted, but only after financial damage was done. The incident highlights the risks in peer-to-peer rental markets, even within seemingly closed community groups. Vaahersalo's story serves as a cautionary tale for both renters and property owners. For renters, the advice is to verify listings through multiple sources, be deeply skeptical of prices far below market rates, and prefer transactions through platforms with payment protection. For owners, it underscores the need to periodically monitor online spaces for unauthorized use of their property's identity.
A Broader Pattern of Holiday Rental Fraud
While specific national statistics on holiday rental scams in Finland are not detailed in the source material, this case fits a known global pattern. Fraudsters frequently target popular tourist destinations during high-demand seasons, counting on victims' urgency and the appeal of a significant discount. The Finnish consumer protection authority, Kuluttaja-asiamies, regularly warns about similar advance payment frauds across various sectors. The Ruka case demonstrates how these schemes have adapted to the specific context of Finland's robust holiday cottage culture, where private rentals are a common practice. The financial loss, estimated between one and two thousand euros, represents a significant blow to individual victims, such as the single mother who first alerted the owner.
Protecting Yourself in the Digital Marketplace
Vaahersalo's enforced policy shift—from potentially direct deals to using only established platforms—is the key practical takeaway from this incident. These platforms typically hold payments in escrow until after check-in, verify property and host identities to a degree, and offer dispute resolution services. They create a layer of accountability often absent in private social media transactions. Renters are advised to reverse image search photos from listings, check the owner's or poster's profile history for consistency, and never transfer money via direct bank transfer to a private individual without substantial verification. For a would-be renter, a simple phone call to the local property management company or a request for a video tour can also help confirm a listing's legitimacy before any money changes hands.