Take this for what it's worth, but I have never felt comfortable using VRBO for this reason. It feels so "unofficial" and unregulated. I use AirBnB all the time, and as I understand it, there's more involved in verifying the identity of users (both renters and hosts). Further, I think the set-up of AirBnB makes it easier for parties on both sides to vet potential renters / hosts - by that I mean that I spend a lot of time reading reviews, looking at pictures of the host's other properties and reading reviews of those properties, analyzing how much detail they've chosen to provide in the description. It could be all for naught one day, but thus far it helps me come to a decision with more ease than VRBO. For VRBO, I would suggest googling the name of the villa you're interested in. See if it also appears on other rental sites, with any degree of consistency in owner and descripton.