... NO WAY would I give this scammer my bank account and routing numbers!
Any crook with a computer and access to account/routing numbers could whip up a whole batch of fake checks.
There is a big difference between
theoretical fear and reality.
Even IF the owner went to Office Depot and bought some check writing software...
even IF they then created hundreds of counterfeit checks with the OP's bank account numbers on them (which would be brain-dead stupid, BTW)...then what? Creating phony checks is easy -- I've printed hundreds (for training purposes!).
The problem with counterfeit checks is not making them, it's
negotiating them. Unless you can turn the fake paper into money, you've accomplished nothing -- and negotiating them is very difficult and risky. If you think someone can just write a phony check and go cash it, you're badly mistaken.
And even IF the owner were able to write checks on OPs account, OP's actual liability would be almost zero. All they'd have to do is notify their bank that the checks were counterfeit and their exposure would be nil.
*****
I think the REAL issue here is what suemom2kay said in her very sensible post above -- the owner probably
doesn't have the money to make the refund. That is one of the biggest risks in renting -- times change, people's financial situations change over the course of several months between payment and arrival at WDW.
The problem for that owner is that with their string of promises of repayment (and especially their actual claims that they have repaid when they really have NOT), they are now getting close to creating
criminal exposure for themselves.
I don't believe the owner set out to defraud Rachel (and neither does Rachel), but their actions lately are potentially giving them a lot more problems than they may realize. Intent to commit a crime doesn't have to be present from the start -- if it occurs anywhere in the chain of events, the owner could be charged
criminally.
As I said way early in this thread, a course of conduct is one of the important ways to establish the intent that criminal fraud is involved...and this owner has had a very disappointing course of conduct since the problem arose.