AirBnB Rental Scam

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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I have been doing that but now i wonder if it is just her way of ensuring that the charge doesn’t go through AND an attempt to scam…

I would estimate about twice a week. :slight_smile:

what kind of ridiculous special offer? can you raise your prices in a special offer???

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i’ve got a theft in my unit, and hae been trying to communicate with airbnb help. when i call in, i’m told they’re kicking it upstairs and a supervisor will contact me. then i never get an email response except to say this issue is closed. it’s been well over a week and i still have no reply and no resolution.

that’s such a scam. it’s happened to me on my art page when i’ve got something up for sale. it’s a very popular scam - paying for more than the services and expecting a refund for the difference, and it turns out to be a fraudulent check

Get a police report, copy the receipts for the stolen items and send them to your insurance company at once.

It’s a long time since I had to do this and in those days I faxed them (:older_woman:) but today I’d text photographs.