Just a little note to refresh in everyone’s mind the HomeForHome ethos.

We’re a free online service that enables our users to do free holiday home exchanges across the world. We offer the facilities on our website to people seeking holidays in which they go and stay in the home of another user. In exchange they allow their exchange partner the use of their house for an agreed period.

Exchanges can be non-simultaneous, and can last for however long the users want and agree to.

HomeForHome is very much a community-based website. As such, we strive to maintain the spirit of cameraderie, and the integrity of the homes available.

Homeforhome is not a host site for being wishing to rent or sell properties. Whilst we vigilate the homes that are uploaded on to the site, we ask that if you come across a home that is seeking sale or renting, or any other transaction involving the exchange of funds, that you notify us immediately and we will instantly delete the profile.

We seek to preserve the integrity and quality of the HomeForHome community so that you have the best possible experience of home exchange. Please help us to maintain the dependability of HomeForHome.

What are the risks involved when you do a home exchange?

Well, there´s been a lot of bad press about the 419 scam. A horrendous scam it is, but it´s pretty easy to avoid, now that it´s so well known.

So, here´s the juice. Someone gets in contact with you and says they can´t do a home exchange, but would like to rent your home for a few weeks, offering a price of a few thouand dollars. They send a cheque through, with an over-payment. The over-payment exceeds the initial price by several thousand dollars. So they get in touch and ask you to wire the excess over. The money goes, but when the bank processes the cheque, it turns out it was all fake. But the wired money is gone, never to be seen again.

Wow. Quite incredible, huh. For anyone who´s been a victim of this, it´s really gotta suck. It´s an awful invasion of trust, and it´s a lot of money to lose.

However, this is not a reason to be afraid of home exchange. There are some simple rules that we can follow that will always protect us from this kind of fraud.

1) Never wire or send money to someone that you don´t know
2) If someone offers to do a rental and they get in touch with you through the home exchange site, you should be suspicious
3) If people contact you via the internet offering to give you vast amount of money, be on your guard
4) If you are unsure of the tone or the demands of someone who is contacting you about a home exchange, then you shouldn´t get involved with them.

There´s no reason to be afraid. In order to protect yourself from any potential fraudsters, you just need to be alert. And now that you know about the 419 scam, there is practically no chance at all that anyone would be able to fool you into anything similar.