CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. -- The Carteret County Sheriff's Office is encouraging renters to use caution when booking vacation rentals online after three reports of rental scams in the area.

• Thieves are setting up fake websites with real local listings.
• Victims unknowingly send deposits to the scammers through online transactions, never booking their stay with the authorized agency.
• Investigators are using digital evidence to track down the scammers who face felony charges of obtaining property by false pretenses.

Thieves are setting up fake websites with real local listings.

Victims unknowingly send deposits to the scammers through online transactions, never booking their stay with the authorized agency.

Detective Chip Coble at the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office says these situations are avoidable if renters take the right precautions.

“Go look at the property in person. Go look at the outside, go with someone to look at it inside. That means someone with a key lets you in legitimately and legally,” said Coble.

Investigators are using digital evidence to track down the scammers who face felony charges of obtaining property by false pretenses.