Russian requests from multiple people to book the stay but stay elsewhere and split the profit

[Jess-and-Christof0]

In the last 2 weeks I have had 2 completely new profiles (MIRA AND OLEG) with both Russian phone numbers +79 country codes, to ask me to rent out my Airbnb without them actually staying there.

Mira asked to rent out , not stay and she will give me 40% of the rental price to go stay at a friends house. 

Oleg asked to rent through airbnb but not stay there and to contact him on WhatsApp. 

I am convinced both are scammers, is there anywhere we can help other hosts to not fall for their scam ?

I have reported both profiles but I am sure they will create new ones, as they had no references nor details in there. 

I do have both phone numbers ... 

Let me know what's the best course of action here.

cheers

Jess

[Jess-and-Christof0]

Thanks Rob! I have saved the numbers to make sure I recognise them in future scams... I only accept people who actually stay and I meet all of them in person, to make sure I know who I am dealing with.. 

[Dimitar27]

@Robin4   It's possible to be like this.

But in this part of the world, some things are different. In most cases the employee pays for everything from his/her own pocket, collects invoices and when comes back, presents all the invoices to his/her company and gets the money back. Cash is also used widely, bacause many companies have some "black" cash deposits.

Yes, the employee will need a fake invoice from a hotel. But that's not a problem-you can buy such a thing very cheap almost everywhere.

[Gaz--Gary-0]

There may be multiple versions of how the scammers are making money but the version I have seen is:

stolen credit card makes the account.

you accept the booking

on day+1 when the money hits your bank account from the stolen cc you send 50% to the thief

Thief makes 50% of the money, you make 50% of the money

CC loses 100% of the money.

(unless its a debit card, in which case the account owner loses the money).

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Gaz--Gary-0 Sorry but this is not how it works - Close though

stolen credit card makes the account.

you accept the booking

on day+1 when the money hits your bank account from the stolen cc you send 50% to the thief

Thief makes 50% of the money, you make 50% of the money

Credit card owner the claims a chargeback on the fraudulent transaction.

Airbnb then reclaim 100% of money from host

Theif ends up with 50%, Host ends up with minus 50%

Works the same way with debit cards.

[Elisabeth40]

Thank you for explaining, now I understand 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dimitar27 so actually, these 'legitimate' guests have no need for Airbnb as they can just us a false invoice. Trust me the requests are all scams but feel free to respond to one - just let us know how much money you lose.

[Dimitar27]

It will not work for me. No matter where they will be, my calendar will remain blocked, because I'm using only the ABB platform.

[Bo-Stilling0]

I have also got this scam.

Can anyone help me to tell me what I shoud do:

1) Nothing - that might affect my response rate.

2) Reject - will that "open up" so I will get more scam in the future

3) Report ther user to Airbnb.

Best regards, Bo, Denmark

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Bo-Stilling0 Best approach is to respond with either '.' or ' please go away scammer'

Then use report user to get them removed from the platform.

If you decline the inquiry Airbnb's bots will eventually flag you for excessive declines as they are not smart enough to tell what is going on.