Suspicious, long-term inquiries

[Dawn860]

Has anyone else been getting 1 to 2 month inquiries that seem suspicious? About three weeks ago I received a request from someone named Li in New York, but they were originally from another country. They wanted to rent for the month of December but then they wanted me to take a video of the house first. During our conversation, I had someone book and told them the space was no longer available. They still requested a video of the house. I declined. I see now this person has been removed from Airbnb.

Now yesterday I got another request for two months from from someone different named Juntao with no reviews or activities .They are now asking for the square footage of the house. They asked me if it was available, but if they just looked at the calendar, it would show it was available. Anyone else dealing with these same things? 

[Helen744]

Dawn , sometimes these are legit, but they are trying to choose between a number of houses , possibly in order to supply an address for a visa application , which in Australia at least requires evidence of different lengths of stay from a few days for a tourist to a month or more for a student ,and some times they are looking to add others to the listing over time. Do not give out the address or other descriptors before booking . Let them know that the specific address is not available before booking but after and that the house is as is and ask questions.Often people , especially students will also ask for extra discounts that bring the price down to the equivalent price of unfurnished long term bookings. They want the service of the accommodation but not the price. Answer some questions but dont waste too much time if these people do not reveal who they are. Sometimes the people asking are good english speakers and are trying to basically take over your home to sublet to others of their country men and make money for themselves. they keep going until someone says yes Beware    H