Current Events > Fell "victim" to an Airbnb scam this weekend, dont let it happen to yo

(+) Yeah! (+)

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I say victim in quotes because I was able to quickly figure out I was being scammed, get a refund through Airbnb, and was able to stay with a friend we were visiting instead.

pretty much exactly whats described here happened to us:

https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/43k7z3/nationwide-fake-host-scam-on-airbnb

tl;dr: there is a network of fake listings across the country that seem legit, have verified profiles and reviews and all that, but at the very last minute theyll give you some fake excuse to transfer to a different better property, that is almost certainly shittier or even illegal

this article is almost two years old and apparently Airbnb doesnt care enough to fix the problem.

can go into more detail of our story because it was a total bullshit experience, Airbnb customer service sucked, and we would have been totally screwed if our friends hadnt been able to host us

but mostly I want to spread the knowledge that this can happen

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How did you know it was a scam? What were the signs/tells?

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where did you go?

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nfearurspecimn posted...

How did you know it was a scam? What were the signs/tells?

yes, this

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That was an interesting read. There's a lot about Airbnb which makes it hard to trust, and that article just raised that distrust. I see the FBI literally contacted them about the article, so I wonder where that will go.

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nfearurspecimn posted...

How did you know it was a scam? What were the signs/tells?

Its all in the article, but hang on let me post my communication with the host

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First of all, after I had booked but shortly before we checked in, I noticed this new review posted:



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Goddamn I would be pissed if I had fallen for that. Good for you for getting a refund before moving further. AirBnB looks like such a shit company after this.

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note the timescheckin time for the unit was 3PM

after my last text here I stopped replying and called customer service



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Airbnb shouldn't even be legal. It fucks the property market.

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Wow fuck that guy and AirBnB

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Damn I should warn a relative. She's old loves to airbnb and would be the exact person to fall for this

Oshawottownage posted...

Airbnb shouldn't even be legal. It fucks the property market.

so... ban motels too?

Why are the times so different?

The white convo and the first black convo are similiar.

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randy_123r posted...

Damn, that text sounds legit. I never used AirBNB before so maybe if I decided to use it and researched I might have seen the signs of a scam, who knows. Trust no one.

All else aside, no one is starting a fucking ceramic tile job the morning people check into a unit

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FightingJester posted...

Why are the times so different?

The white convo and the first black convo are similiar.

the first black convo is with Margaret who told us to contact her cleaner 30 minutes before we were due to arrive. The second two black convos were with the supposed cleaner

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Tag for later

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I'd be like "nah" and show up to the original location

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Questionmarktarius posted...

so... ban motels too?

some can stay. ban the rest of em.
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Accolon posted...

I'd be like "nah" and show up to the original location

Well thats the thing, according to the article the original location often doesnt even exist

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i had to call support multiple times to get this resolved. Originally called them at 10:30PM Friday, the night we were supposed to check in. They said theyd investigate and get back to me within an hour

at 6AM Saturday I finally got a message that the host would offer a 30% discount for our inconvenience. We had already had to find somewhere else to sleep so I said no, we need a full refund

no response once again so I called at 11AM Sunday (approximately 36 hours after I had originally called and after we had had to find a different place to stay for two nights at the very last minute) and they got me a refund within a half hour

oh, and for our trouble, we get a coupon worth 10% of the value of our stay, to be used with 30 days, on any listing of equal or greater cost to the canceled booking ($666.97our coupon was for $66.69), which is frankly fucking insulting and the cherry on top to why we will never use Airbnb again

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TheGoldenEel posted...

i had to call support multiple times to get this resolved. Originally called them at 10:30PM Friday, the night we were supposed to check in. They said theyd investigate and get back to me within an hour

at 6AM Saturday I finally got a message that the host would offer a 30% discount for our inconvenience. We had already had to find somewhere else to sleep so I said no, we need a full refund

no response once again so I called at 11AM Sunday (approximately 36 hours after I had originally called and after we had had to find a different place to stay for two nights at the very last minute) and they got me a refund within a half hour

oh, and for our trouble, we get a coupon worth 10% of the value of our stay, to be used with 30 days, on any listing of equal or greater cost to the canceled booking ($666.97our coupon was for $66.69), which is frankly fucking insulting and the cherry on top to why we will never use Airbnb again

Holy hell

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damn that sounds annoying. i remember reading about this a while back but had kinda forgotten about it. i've started using AirBnB more and more these days, i'll keep alert.

TheGoldenEel posted...

we will never use Airbnb again

what's the alternative, though? is there a comparable app that does the same thing? asking because i generally prefer hotels for consistency and lack of "surprises" like this one, but when a hotel is $400 and an AirBnB a block away is $100, i'm not picking the hotel. i had this exact thing happen for my weekend in Chicago a couple of days ago. hotels wanted like $300-$400/night (event at Wrigley Field) and i found a place within a 15 minute walk for $100/night

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

damn that sounds annoying. i remember reading about this a while back but had kinda forgotten about it. i've started using AirBnB more and more these days, i'll keep alert.

what's the alternative, though? is there a comparable app that does the same thing? asking because i generally prefer hotels for consistency and lack of "surprises" like this one, but when a hotel is $400 and an AirBnB a block away is $100, i'm not picking the hotel. i had this exact thing happen for my weekend in Chicago a couple of days ago. hotels wanted like $300-$400/night (event at Wrigley Field) and i found a place within a 15 minute walk for $100/night

I dont really think Airbnbs these days are that much better than hotels with all the extra cleaning fees and such, and its worth a little more for convenience/peace of mind

this trip was in Chicago, this past weekend, I had booked several months in advance, and it was $666 for two nights, but by far the cheapest (entire unit) option anywhereeven on Airbnb it would have been at least $1000 for any other decently located unit, which was comparable to similar hotel rooms. Im hindsight the price itself should have been a red flag

my past few trips I have not had trouble getting very good, centrally located, hotel rooms in the range of $100-150/ night

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TheGoldenEel posted...

I dont really think Airbnbs these days are that much better than hotels with all the extra cleaning fees and such, and its worth a little more for convenience/peace of mind

Thus the market will correct itself quickly, as the value proposition over a hotel is no longer there, but the risk of scams is vastly greater.

Airbnb needs to get its shit together, or a competitor will move into its place.

That's why I prefer hotels
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This is why Ill never stay anywhere except at least a 3 star minimum hotel. 4 or 5 stars if on holiday and not for work

same thing with Uber. Basically the lot of these companies are scams

TheGoldenEel posted...

my past few trips I have not had trouble getting very good, centrally located, hotel rooms in the range of $100-150/ night

lucky you. if that were the case, i'd do hotel every time. i just booked something for NYE up in Grand Rapids, MI and hotels located downtown were all in the $300/night range, but i found a BnB for $110/night.

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Giant_Aspirin posted...

lucky you. if that were the case, i'd do hotel every time. i just booked something for NYE up in Grand Rapids, MI and hotels located downtown were all in the $300/night range, but i found a BnB for $110/night.

Are you doing rooms with shared space, or entire units?

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I only stay at real hotels, never have problems

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randy_123r posted...

Damn, that text sounds legit. I never used AirBNB before so maybe if I decided to use it and researched I might have seen the signs of a scam, who knows. Trust no one.

Also want to throw out another thing I thought of related to this: Airbnb has a messaging system, and a built in mechanism for the host to offer you a different listing of theirs if there is a problem

so telling you a different address outside of the app is definitely a clear attempt to break the rules of Airbnb without them finding out

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Lol I tweeted at them to bitch publicly and their Twitter bot just reopened a service case

wonder if I can get anything better out of them than a 10% coupon

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