Every Friday, Lynda Steele dips into the viewer mailbag to answer your questions. This week, Steele on Your Side takes a closer look at earthquake preparedness and vacation rentals.
Earthquake preparedness
A number of viewers contacted Steele on Your Side following this week’s earthquake off the coast of Vancouver Island. The tremor had a lot of B.C. residents thinking about organizing an earthquake kit.
Several local businesses offer earthquake kits that include first aid and survival technologies. They can range in price from $25 to $200. But if you are looking to save money you can make your own disaster relief kit.
Here’s what you want to include, according to the Canadian Red Cross:
- Enough non-perishable food items for 72 hours.
- Four litres of water per person: two litres to drink and two litres for washing, for each day.
- Battery-operated flashlight and radio, a first aid kit and important family documents.
- Make sure you keep all the emergency supplies together in a sturdy backpack.
For more information you can visit the Red Cross website.
Vacation rentals
Steele on Your Side recently aired a story about hackers posing as vacation property owners on the popular website Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO). Since that story aired, other people have come forward with similar experiences.
Kathie Grealish had someone hack into her email account on VRBO. The hacker sent a forged contract to a potential renter. The contract listed a foreign bank and told the renter to wire more than $3,000 to the account.
So how do you protect yourself from these scams? The bottom line is when you pay always use a credit card or PayPal. You can also turn to Consumer Reports' recommended websites like FlipKey, which do background checks on landlords ahead of time to make sure properties are legitimate.
Finally, you can buy renter’s insurance on the VRBO site that protects you from possible fraud.
