AirBnB Rental Scam

Just got a request from a Maxim asking me to book “My Apartment” which I do not have as I only rent out rooms in my own house and to contact her or reply to her message by “VVaz zap” which I did not do and also reported the message to AirBnB.
I assume that this is some type of scam so be aware and interested to know if anyone else has had any enquiries similar to this one?
Thanks for letting me share this with you and look forward to hearing back from anyone with a similar case.

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Happens all the time. Report to Airbnb then forget about it, same as those wanting contact through telegram etc.

JF

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Hi John,
Thanks for your reply and have done so but just curious to find out if anyone else has had this as it is a first for me.
Hope all is well with you and thanks again.

Daily basis :- pre approve, make a ridiculous special offer and report

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Hi Debthecat,
Thanks for your reply and hope all is well with you and I have reported this and also done what you suggested so thanks again and stay safe as they keep telling us here in Scotland.

Where is your listing?

Just idle curiosity, from one sweaty sock to another…

JF

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Yes. After being closed most of Mar-July when I did make days available here and there I got several bogus inquiries. In 6 years/800 bookings that happened maybe 3x. Then this spring, 6x.

Like others I just ignore and report them.

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Hi John,

We are in Edinburgh
Dechmont House
Glasgow Road Edinburgh EH12 8LP

You can Google it

Cheers for now

JF.

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Hi KKC,
Thank you for your reply and hope all is well with you.
I did report it to AirBnB and then make them a ridiculous special offer and have not of course heard back from them.
Thanks again.
JF.

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Ha! Not only do I know exactly where you are, I wouldn’t like to try and count the number of times over the years I’ve passed your front door, so to speak.

JF

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I think the bad guys are really pushing to steal.

I listed one one condo on Craigslist for LTR with a link to my airbnb listing so they could see the reviews. ((BTW 48 hours after listing I had 2 good Tenants interested.))

I got a couple of “yes I want it. Give me your bank account so I can send you money now!” Nope nope. Not gonna happen.

Sending. $$$ with Zelle or Venmo is good

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Whilst not having had any scammers or bogus enquiries, I have had some howlers through TripAdvisor. Normally I get 1-2 per annum but I’ve had over forty since mid July’s re-opening.

However, I haven’t re-opened.

Like @Theshad0, I don’t have an entire property, just a B&B, so it was off the cards to have strangers coming in.

I closed all rooms down on Lodgify mid March, and all was peaceful until mid July, when all hell broke loose via TA, but only for one listing, my two bedroom suite. Lodgify said it was TA’s fault and TA said it was Lodgify’s.

As we all know, people don’t read; I had one woman say “I’ve looked at the pictures but can’t see a sitting room for guests”.

Read.

Another “Can you please take your cat with you when we stay…”.

Read.

“It says not suitable for children but can I bring my twins? They are seven”.

and

“There will be five of us, two adults and three children. The children can sleep on the sofas”.

And many more in similar ilk.

All sorted now and life is back to peacefulness. But I have to say, I quite miss the daftness!

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I had one couple ask if they could have 3 kids and 4 dogs! The room is 10x11 with another 110 sq ft of entry hall and bathroom. They offered to supply their own air mattresses. LOL. I suggest they board the dogs somewhere and get a hotel room with 2 beds. The man was “oh, didn’t think of that, thanks.” :roll_eyes:

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Why bother? I haven’t gotten any of these, but I’d just message back “Go away, scammer” and report.

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Purely for my own amusement, keeping my KPI’s up and keeping the Algorithm happy… the host responded, sent a special offer … Good Host!

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Exactly what I was thinking, no more free entertainment.

This is a variation of the one I get for my limo: Our group would like to book you for 10 days, 10 hours per day [Total $12,000]. They will have a translator and guide who we cannot pay directly. We will pay you his fee as well as yours, and you can transfer money to him via [Western Union, bank transfer, prepaid debit card]. Then it will turn out they’re using a stolen credit card, and they’ve got the “translator fee” you sent.

I had a woman book for herself and then inquire she would have it to herself. After seeing her profile which said she had 10 kids I responded that yes, she would be the only person in the house. Low and behold she said she was bringing 6 kids with her. Surprisingly she quickly accepted the alteration that basically doubled her cost. However she showed up well before she was supposed to (didn’t let me know, I only saw it on the camera after she canceled). Camera shows a man drive up in a 6 seater work truck with at least two other adults and no children (couldn’t see in the vehicle except when the woman rolled her window down for a bit). This was on July 30th. The next day instead of he remaining payout I got a message from AirBnB basically saying that there was a problem with the Guest’s credit card And I might be screwed but I should still host her…then the harassment starts with the guest requesting a refund over and over again. Requested help through the app over a week ago and have still been waiting on actually getting more than a bot. So just called in and was provided an app generated link to submit the same thing and then it hung up…so frustrating.

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Tell them you don’t have their money, Airbnb does and you’ve no control over it.

JF

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