Fake listing, can it work?

1

Restaurant round the corner asked me if I knew of an Airbnb nearby, 100 North Road? Nah, I said, but it must be fairly near to you.
“It actually is our address”, they said. Two guests had been in there, and upon finding there’s no such location, had to suddenly find somewhere to stay!
So if that’s a scam, I don’t get it? Surely the marooned guest would ring Airbnb saying they’ve been stiffed and the payment to fake host would be stopped.

2

My bet is on the guests being in the wrong address.

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3

Maybe the guests got scammed by a fake Airbnb website? E.g., they paid their money to a scammer and not actually to Airbnb. I posted an article on that a few months ago.

Edit: This one https://www.goatsontheroad.com/airbnb-scam/

4

could be, but the restaurant used to be a coach depot, and the listing was called ‘The Depot’, so there’s a lot adding up to it being the right location, a genuine address…but no Airbnb!

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5

Any chance there’s a flat upstairs?

6

Every chance, I suppose, but would have thought the restaurant would know. I can’t find the listing (suspicious), but I heard that it had a balcony with views that “looked a bit more like Ibiza”…

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