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Vacation rental sites lead to problematic mansion parties across the nation

Boynton Beach homeowner Thierry Chevrier thought he was renting his $1 million mansion on the Intracoastal Waterway to a family of five. Instead it became the scene of a massive house party this month.

House parties, sometimes called mansion parties, are popping up all over Palm Beach County and the nation. It’s a way for underground organizers to make some fast cash at someone else’s expense. With party names like “Palmghanistan,” organizers hope to draw huge crowds to properties they don’t own.

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Industry experts say the growing popularity of vacation rentals have made property owners easy targets for these types of bashes. Booking websites like HomeAway and Airbnb allow property owners to rent out rooms, cottages and even large mansions almost instantly.

“There really are a lot of scams out there,” said West Palm Beach resident Rick Rose, president of Palm Beach Vacation Rentals, a property management company that specializes in vacation rentals. “It is a real problem in the vacation rental industry.”

READ MORE: Vacation rentals becoming a target for scammers, mansion parties