So this happened about a half hour from me: Local Family Discovers Home Listed On Airbnb After Strangers Arrive, Saying They Rented It

[Ryan2352]

Personally, I'm shocked that only two people booked it.  Homes like that are usually in the $2,000/n and up range.  In the summer, $10k or more.  No clue what the end game here is, except to create chaos maybe.

Source: https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/11/30/exclusive-local-family-discovers-home-listed-on-airbnb-af...

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A local family was shocked when strangers showed up on their doorstep claiming that they had rented their home on Airbnb even though the homeowner had never listed it.

The listing called the home a “modern masterpiece,” and the entire villa was up for rent for just $450 a night on Airbnb’s website.

Jeff Branch owns the house, which is nestled up against the Santa Monica Mountains. He, his wife and children moved in four months ago. Earlier this month, the family went out of town, though they left a pet sitter to watch the house.

“…and she text us and said, ‘Did you rent the house out for the weekend?’ And we said no. And she said, ‘Someone is here who rented the house through Airbnb,” Branch said.

The homeowner went online and found the listing for his home, a listing he did not make that was using photos taken when the house was up for sale.

“I was a bit surprised, but not surprised. It got me to really realize just how easy it is for people to do anything online without anyone’s permission,” said Branch.

Branch immediately messaged and called Airbnb. He was told his case would be “escalated to a specialized team.”

“…and he said, ‘Okay, someone will be in touch with you tonight.’ Nothing,” said Branch.

The listing stayed up for weeks and, last weekend, another stranger showed up to the home, saying she had rented the house on Airbnb.

“It’s not a comfortable situation when people show up at your house and have seen pictures on the internet and say, ‘I paid for this house,'” Branch said.

While Airbnb had it listed that the host’s identity was verified, as far as CBSLA could tell, Airbnb does not do anything to verify the address to the make sure the person listing the property actually owns it.

A look at the host’s profile revealed a listing for another home in Kern County. However, a reverse image search on Google showed the home was actually on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood.

Within hours of CBSLA reaching out to Airbnb, both listings were taken down.

“Until the media speaks up and they could potentially get bad press, they don’t care,” Branch said.

For it’s part, Airbnb sent CBSLA the following statement:

“Trust is at the heart of everything we do, and bad actors have no place in the Airbnb community. This homeowner is correct, and we’ve taken action to ban both the listing and the host from our platform.”

The vacation rental company said it does not release funds until after check-in and it uses software to detect fake listings, which it insists are are rare.

[Hal3292]

After what I've read in the Host Circle about unresponsiveness to hosts, I'm not surprised that Airbnb didn't respond quickly to the homeowner. But what about the guests who showed up and got turned away? And presumably got their money back? Wonder why that didn't trigger Airbnb action. Apparently whoever answered the phone at Airbnb didn't see what a PR nightmare this scenario could become.

[Ryan2352]

With all the stories I've read here and on other forums about entire accounts being shut down over one complaint, you'd think the heavy handed ban hammer would have fallen on this listing at the first report.  Crazy how solid hosts get hammered for one false allegation and fake listings get ignored.

[Laura2592]

@Ryan2352 this really does show how disinterested Airbnb is in protecting anyone. Verification of identity is a joke. Responsiveness is abysmal. Hosts must solve an a dizzying array of problems on their own without support.  It's only when the company is publicly embarrassed that they even bother to trot out the half hearted feel good PR statement. 

And what of these guests? Were they communicating with someone? If this happened where I live there's a 50% probability that the guests would try to bully the homeowners into vacating so they could have the vacation they feel entitled to. And I'm sure if they pressed ABB some clueless CSR would tell the homeowner the guests were within their rights.

I wish I could say I'm shocked. But I read these forums. 

[Ryan2352]

Agreed @Laura2592 between this forum, Reddit and a couple Fakebook groups, nothing surprises me anymore.  I think this made it a trifecta of ABB's offshored support pissing off guests, hosts and now the public at large.

[Elaine701]

The odd thing is..  Why go to all the trouble of creating this fake listing? I don't know how the scammers would get any money. (?) 

[Laura2592]

@Elaine701 I wondered that. I guess they didn't know how ABB works as far as payouts?

This is a version of a Craigslist scam. Someone would advertise a house for rent with pics  pulled from a real estate listing on Craigslist. But they didnt own it and the house was not for rent. Deposits were collected, leases signed in a few cases where the potential renter was out of the area and could not tour the place. These types of issues are the reason that Craiglist lost a lot of traction in the US (dating scams didn't help either.)

Airbnb would do well to pay attention. Once the public loses faith in the legitimacy of a business the loss of profits follow. Right now its still a popular platform. But Craigslist used to be too. 

[Ryan2352]

I was wondering the same thing @Elaine701.  Maybe they thought they'd get people to pay direct?  My thought went to a Craigslist scam as well, but still trying to figure out how they get paid.  I've had a few of my rentals and listings (I'm a RE Broker) "stolen" in this way by scammers.

My only guess would be to create some level of chaos for the owner.  Maybe the fake host somehow knew them or had a grudge against them or lost out on the home in a bidding war?  $450/n for that home is a joke of a price.  I'm still shocked only two bookings happened!

[Anne10908]

We’ve got some narcissistic people out there with too much time on their hands apparently 👀

[Sandra126]

Many years ago when I started hosting you had to show proof such as a council rates bill to get a live listing.  Airbnb wasnt invented then, sites like takeabreak and stayz. Seems like a brilliant idea.

[Ryan2352]

I listed two properties earlier this year, I don't recall there being any form of proof needed.  I have a third one to list next year, I'll pay more attention to see if they need any proof this time.

[Helen3]

I would imagine what has happened is that the so called host directed the 'guests' to a scam Airbnb platform and took payment there ?

[Sarah977]

@Ryan2352 @Elaine701 @Helen3  I think Helen nailed it. These "guests" likely didn't actually book through Airbnb, but fell for the "I'll be using Airbnb's long term agents"" scam and paid by  sending money directly to the scammer. That isn't made clear in the article. Lots of these scammers do put up fake listings on Airbnb as bait, and direct the victims to check them out to assure them that they are on the up and up, but then keep communicating with the mark through emails, telling them to send money.

There is too much missing info in this article to know how this came  about.

But Airbnb is certainly remiss in not requiring proof of either home ownership or permission from the owner to list the property.

[Ryan2352]

That makes sense.  @Sarah977.  Hadn't heard of that scam before, but a direct booking is definitely the only way that makes sense.

[Susan990]

@Ryan2352  Noticed the story says ABB does not release funds until after check-in i.e. ABB takes its money immediately upon booking confirmed - it does not release funds to the Host until after check-in and even then there is a delay time frame which is disclosed in the notice to Host.  And even if they do actually cancel the reservation themselves ABB always keeps its fee $, they just cancel what would have gone to the Host.  But clearly these scammers are diverting the money to off-listing platform directly to themselves somehow. The question becomes how secure are ABB's systems to detect and block this kind of scam? Next question - does this happen on other sites?