Practically everyone knows the popularity of Miami Beach condos as places to stay during the annual spring break season.  Well known buildings like ICON South Beach stand alongside other perennial favorites like the Gansevoort which offer rental options.  For those who have never experienced spring break in South Beach, finding a hotel is proving to be a less than seamless process due to a few unsavory characters.

Scammers are preying on people from out of town by advertising Miami Beach condos that simply don't exist.  The problem is the people who prepay for these fake buildings don't find out that there's no such thing as a “178 Ocean Drive” condo until after the money's gone.  Often the scammers use popular albeit riskier websites like Craigslist to advertise these places.

If you won't be staying at a building like ICON Miami Beach which has a solid and well known reputation, it may be a good idea to do a little research about the building(s) in question.  A simple web search can help you determine whether or not the place being mentioned is actually a building or a street corner falsely posing as one.