‘That, to me, is Hilton Head’: Businesses surprise Ohio couple after Craigslist scam
James and Donna Hamann were looking forward to their first trip to Hilton Head Island when they were scammed out of $1,250 by a phony rental company operating on Craigslist.
After that, they were pretty sure they wouldn’t make it to the island anytime soon.
They were wrong.
Hilton Head businesses — including Low Country Coastal Rentals, The Salty Dog, and the Mediterranean Harbour Bar and Grill — have united to pay for a trip to the island for the couple.
The Hamanns, who hail from Lancaster, Ohio, will stay for free in Sea Pines in a condo overlooking the Harbour Town lighthouse from Feb. 22 until March 1 — compliments of an island community determined to find the silver lining in an otherwise dark situation.
“As soon as we saw the article (in The Island Packet) and had a name, I knew I had to do something,” said Peter Moersen, whose company, Low Country Coastal Rentals, actually owns the house the Hamanns tried to rent on Craigslist.
Moersen said he enlisted help from other businesses to put together the trip.
“We are just overwhelmed with the generosity, and we never thought we’d be coming down (to Hilton Head) this soon,” Hamann said Thursday.
Here’s how the initial scam worked:
Hamann saw a posting on Craigslist for a weeklong vacation rental on Wildwood Court. He communicated with the man who said he managed the rental by email and text only.
On Jan. 31, he deposited the cash into a bank account as instructed by the man to secure the rental.
But once the money was deposited, all contact stopped.
That’s when Hamann called the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Office deputies discovered that the person Hamann had been texting — and the rental company the man said he worked for — didn’t exist.
“I got taken,” Hamann told The Packet on Monday. “I’ve never been (to Hilton Head), and we were looking forward to it.”
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While they’re on the island next week, the Hamanns will host their friends from Atlanta, enjoy meals on the house at local restaurants and free cleaning service at their condo. They’ve been offered complimentary biking tours and dolphin sightseeing excursions.
The goal, Moersen said, was to redeem Hilton Head in the eyes of a first-time tourist.
“The right thing to do is the right thing to do. And I’m going to give a lot of credit to the people who stepped up and wanted to help in any way possible,” he said. “That — to me — is Hilton Head. That’s what I’ve experienced here.”
Hamann, who was driving toward South Carolina on Thursday afternoon, said “something good came out of something really bad here.”
How can you avoid being scammed?
Moersen said renters can follow some general guidelines when booking rentals on Hilton Head to be sure they’re legitimate.
- If you can’t book directly online with your credit card, don’t book: Individuals trying to scam people will set up fake websites and steal photos and texts from legitimate renters, Moersen said.
- Speak with the rental company on the phone: Text messages can be sent by anyone.
- Don’t ever wire money to a rental company: Companies should have encrypted, traceable money transferring services, Moersen said. When you wire transfer money, “you have no recourse” if it ends up in the wrong hands.
- Read all the reviews: Moersen said most established rental sites — private companies, Aribnb and VRBO included — have several recent reviews of properties and details of when the reviewers visited.
This story was originally published February 21, 2019 at 3:48 PM.
