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Every other week we get a request for a long stay, ranging from a week to two, and the person generally says , “Hi. I’m interested in your property.” Or they say nothing, but the names are generally one syllable or two. For example, the most recent name was Luke Martin.
Once I try to start communication, most times they write and explain that their employer will be paying with a certified check and I’ll need to cash it and give him the extra money for expenses etc and we all know that’s a scam.
My concern is now that I recognize the pattern, I respond by saying that I like to make sure that we can a accommodate expectations so I ask why they are coming here and what they’d like to do. Usually they don’t don’t write back, and it’s dropped.
So… my real question is … because this happens so often, will my denying their request lower my rating?
These normally come as inquiries, not requests, so stop wasting declines on them, and you shouldn’t bother responding with questions. Just say “No” or “Your scam has been reported”. Then click the flag button to report them.
This particular scam is well known and is a stolen credit card scam.
I said to send a short message back because several hosts have reported that their response rate got dinged when they just flagged a scam message without replying.
I suggest you run it past Airbnb . It sounds like a scam to me.
I’ve asked Air to verify a request in the past and they’ve been very helpful.
Get in touch with them via Chat , it’s a lot faster .
This is a copy of our most recent inquiry. The PDF included phone and address. I am thankful that this came as an inquiry and not a request. I did report as spam.
My company will be taking care of the vacation so I can only make the
payment by sending you a company or certified check for the payment, kindly
get back to me with the mailing information and total quote for the night
via text or my direct email address, so we can further discus this, also
the * PDF *attached is the information my direct email address and my cell
phone number.
I asked via Chat about a request that looked like a scam.
The pleasant reply was that it wasn’t a scam and explained why. This was some time ago.
Muddy responded to this, recently, and pointed out that you can flag the message to ask if it’s a scam or not.
I’ve not done it that way, so good to know.
No, you misunderstood. I didn’t say that flagging it will generate a response. Flagging just gives you options to report it as a scam, spam, harrassment, etc. You can’t ask there if it is a scam and receive a reply.
When I said to just flag it, that it wasn’t necessary to ask Airbnb if it was a scam, I was referring to the original post here, which is a known scam, so no need to waste time chatting with CS.
Ok. Thanks for that. Did the original poster realise it was a scam? No need to answer, we’ve gone as far as we need regarding this, and I thank you for your clarification.
