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

[Anna9170]

@Jess-and-Christof0Russian hackers are cool, now my homeland is known not only for balalaika, vodka, bear and babushka 😂 
‌‌In fact, this is a very well-known Scam, without national origins, there were many mentions of such scammers on the forum. (

[Jess-and-Christof0]

Hi Anna, I just got 2 Russian phone numbers, was not trying to say only Russians do this ... I am new as a host so never got those requests. But good to know that it’s a known thing... thanks

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Jess-and-Christof0 All you can do is report them PLUS answer them or your response rate will take a hit.

You can respond with a '.' or be rude - entirely up to you

[Jess-and-Christof0]

I told them we do not do fake stays and declined the request. So response rate should be good! Thanks for the tip.

[Sarah977]

@Jess-and-Christof0  These usually come in as Inquiries, not Requests. Never waste declines (which lowers your acceptance rate) on Inquiries. Inquiries don't require that you either pre-approve or decline- simply messaging back within 24 hours fulfills your obligations to not get dinged. Ignore the messages from Airbnb to pre-approve. That's just bot stuff that will disappear after 24 hours if you clear your cache. 

[Elisabeth40]

I didn't know that declines lower your rate of acceptance. Thank you for this info. I felt always obligated to let people know where they are at as soon as possible. But I must say, recently I have so many inquiries, which sound very fishy and like a scam, some even to a great degree, almost like real people. I will now ignore everyone. I always thought it's reversed, if I ignore, I will fall. Because it's actually work and time to respond.

[Dimitar27]

Got the same requests at March. From Russia, Ukraine, Belarus. Mostly from Ukraine. They are not bots. There are real people on the other side. Actually, it's not a scam. Those people are trying to steal some money from the companies, they are working for.

[Jess-and-Christof0]

Well does not make it any less fraude... I will not take part in any of it. It’s a shame they feel the need to steal from their employer.

[Dimitar27]

@Jess-and-Christof0-different places, different realities and different ways for the people to survive. It's not a fair practice, but it's very common.

[Elisabeth40]

Do you think they are stealing from their employers? I was thinking they are paying with fake or stollen credit cards and you at the end give them money. 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Dimitar27 It absolutely is a fraud against Airbnb hosts. If any host takes them up on the offer they will lose money.

[Sarah977]

@Dimitar27  Sorry, but you're wrong. These are scams and are not individuals trying to steal money from companies they work for.  It's a stolen credit card scam and it's organized and sent out to hosts all over the world.

[Dimitar27]

This practice is very common  among people, who travel regularly.

[Robin4]

@Dimitar27 

Dimitar, think for a second about the way Airbnb operates, what you are saying just won't work!

The way this scam works is, the 'guest' sends a reservation request explaining their scheme! The boss is paying for the trip but you need to accept it so that he will pay the money to Airbnb. It sounds feasible and sounds like easy money so the host accepts, and the reservation is confirmed. The 'guest' has used the pay less up front scheme which means they have stumped up 50% of the total amount. They now have personal contact with the host and send an sms to the hosts phone saying..."The payment for the booking, as you can see, has gone through, send your 50% to these bank account details now and when Airbnb releases the payment to you, you get to keep the lot!" Once again, it all looks okay, as soon as you send that 50% the 'guest' cancels the reservation and gets his original 50% payment back.....the only one who gets stiffed is you....you paid 50% of the reservation to get nothing!

It's an old scam @Jess-and-Christof0, if it came from an Airbnb profile hit the report flag and let Airbnb deal with it....and what ever you do ditch those Russian phone numbers.

Cheers.........Rob