Beware the "Let's split the payment" scam

[Rich-and-Yan0]

Hi fellow hosts,

My wife and I are still relatively new hosts, just passing the 6-month mark about a week ago, but we have been following the hosting forums for much longer.

We have heard of various scams and scam attempts on Airbnb over the past few years, but this morning we were approached with what appears to be a new one--or at least, it was new to us. 

Basically, we got an email request for a long-term booking from this coming Tuesday, which seemed odd to us. Why, after all, would someone planning a long trip write on such short notice? The writer also claimed to be going on a business trip, which was another peculiarity. Our home is in the Algarve in southern Portugal, which is known for its climate, beaches and golfing--but not as a place people go on business trips. Even if they did, then we feel sure that they would have planned their trip more than three days in advance.

And then there was the language. Though the telephone number he secretly embedded in his mail was for an U.S. address in the state of New Jersey, his English (e.g. "Greetings. I am Alexander" and "But there is one moment that I would like to share with you") didn't sound like that of any American I've ever met.

Now here comes the really dodgy part: the writer claimed that he wasn't actually going to stay at our place, as he had a friend's house to stay at in Portugal but was getting paid by his company for accommodation costs. So, he said that if we were willing to accept his booking, then we could split the payment between us.

I'll post what he wrote at the end of this letter, but I'm sure that many of you are seeing "flags" already. Certainly we were.

So, I sent it on to a lawyer friend of mine who specialises in fraud, and she said that she has seen this recently and that it is a new variation on an old type of scam. Here's how it works. First, since it's low season and you don't have anyone booked, then you figure that it is a good deal for you and agree. Next, the person confirms the booking. After that, the guest asks you to transfer him half of the money for the booking. And then once the transfer to him is made--you guessed it--the guest cancels, and you are screwed. 

So that's it. And again, some of you hosts may have seen something like this before. But as I said, it was new to us, and so we thought that we should share it so that other hosts can be aware of it if it happens to them. 

The message he sent is pasted below. We would love to hear your thoughts. (Oh, and if anyone knows how we can report this to Airbnb, then please let us know.)

Rich & Yan

Greetings! I am Alexander. Soon I'm having a business trip to Portugal. I was looking through Airbnb to find some apartments there and would like to book your apartment. But there is one moment that I would like to share with you. I have a plan to stay at my friend's home once I'm there and not to check into your apartment at all. Here's my proporsal. Book your apartment, never move into it and just share the rental fee my employer is going to pay as a part of my business trip expenses. You can just have some money for doing nothing. If you are interested, please get back to me soon. Text me in whattsap. This is my numbra pluus oonnnee ssevven thrre ttwwwo thhrree ssiixx zzeroo siixx niinee ninne ffiifee. Waiting for an answer.

[Robin4]

@Rich-and-Yan0 

Yeah, I should have picked that Rich, if it was California it would have been Ca.

As it was CA, it is obviously Canada.....but then again, it could be Cameroon or Cambodia.....or even Cabo Verde.

See we all get confused over the silliest things, or is it just that I have passed my use-by date!

Take care, in (I feel fairly confident)........Hong Kong!

Cheers.......Rob

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Robin4 Haha, you got it right. We are in Hong Kong, although our listing is in Portugal. 

The CA for California and for Canada is an understandable mistake. If memory serves me right, California's state abbreviation is CA, and as Airbnb is an American company, then American listings are listed by state, rather than by country like in most other places. (Notice how the home of @Fran166 below is written as GA for Georgia, not US for United States.) So, don't worry about it. It could have happened to anyone.

Hope you're keeping well in Australia. Thanks for posting.

[Fran166]

Got this one this morning....beware! Don’t get desperate during these times:( Scammers are always looking for a way to make money!

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Fran166 Thanks for the heads up. I just wrote the same message above, i.e. watch out for the scammers in these desperate times, as from what I've been reading, they are coming out of the woodwork these days. So, keep spreading the message, not only to the Airbnb hosting community but to all of your friends and family, to keep researching about scam attempts and to avoid anything that sounds a bit too good to be true. 

Cheers. 🙂

[Mary3885]

Hi! They're still out there, we got this message today (reported straight away, all spelling mistakes are the same as the original message):

"1 came acrrosss your listingg and would like to book your apartment But tthere is one moment tthat 1 would like to share with you The thing is tthat I am actuaIly not planning to stay in your househoIdd but tto sstay at myy friend's house insteadd. What 1 am tthinking about is tto stay at myy friend's house once 1'm there instead of checking into yourr apartmentt. Here's myy pr0p0rsa1. Book your apartmeent, never check in and get the rentaI fee that will be paid by my empIoyer. You cann justt have some moneyy for ddoing nothingg. 1f you ffind this proposa1 as intriguing as 1 do please get back to me soon. You can contact me in VVha ts ap p. My numbra is , (Phone number hidden by Airbnb)"

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Mary3885 Yes, I figured that they were going to keep coming. At least the phone number is being hidden by Airbnb in their scam attempts now, which suggests that all of our efforts to flag these people with Airbnb are paying off--at least to some degree. But they are clever, these scammers. They spend all of the waking hours trying to devise ways to get money out of innocent, but either gullible or desperate, people. It is a pretty despicable way to live, and yet, I bet it is as old as humanity itself.

The message again is to be vigilant: don't fall for things that sound too good to be true, and do your research so that you can keep abreast of any new developments in the scamming world. As I just said above, I've heard that lots of new scams are popping up recently, and as people are falling into hard economic times now, then they may try things that they wouldn't have tried under normal circumstances. So, do your homework, and keep spreading the word.

Thanks for alerting us. Stay healthy and safe. 

[Huma0]

Report all scam emails to Airbnb asap so they can act on it. Although we see red flags, some less experienced hosts might not. When I received some dodgy requests one morning, I informed Airbnb straight away and they immediately blocked the user. They thanked me profusely because, when they looked into it, they saw that the same person had messaged thousands of hosts. Thousands. But I was the only one to report it!

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Huma0 That's really good to know. Oddly, they did not act on my report right away. The email from the scammer stayed in my inbox for weeks until it was finally removed--which means that they did not block or remove the sender right away, like you would have thought would be done.

Judging from what I've been hearing recently about these scamming emails having their coded telephone numbers blocked by Airbnb, it does seem like the site is trying to respond. In my opinion, though, it would be better if they had something like a "scam hotline" or "red flag email" link, so that we could unequivocally let Airbnb know what is happening and they could act on it right away, rather than waiting weeks as they did in my case. 

Anyway, I'm glad that they were responsive in your case. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with your living in the UK or not, but it's great to hear that they did respond and did block the user. 

Thanks for the good news. Stay healthy. 

[Huma0]

@Rich-and-Yan0  I am not sure. This was a while ago when I used to usually get through to the Ireland team on the phone and they are always very responsive. It may have been because this scammer had messaged thousands of hosts so they seemed to think it was a big deal.

There used to be a way to report or flag a user's profile. Not sure if that has disappeared now?

Stay safe and well too!

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Huma0 I didn't see anything like a flag or such, but if they had that before and phased it out, then they really should bring it back. If you've scrolled through the threads here, it seems like there are a lot of other people on whom this same scam was attempted--and as @Pilar1 pointed out in her response in this thread, Airbnb don't always act even when you do try to report it. So, I'm glad that they took action in your case, and I would love to see them bring back whatever policy was used then for the rest of us.

[Huma0]

@Rich-and-Yan0 

At the bottom of a user's profile, there is a 'report this profile' link, which I suppose is the equivalent of the red flag. I don't know what happens when you click on the link. I have never used it before and don't want to try it out and accidently report a guest!

I also noticed on the message threads with guests that there is a flag symbol  next to each of their messages, although I am not sure what this means and if it is a way to alert Airbnb to a suspect message or just a way to flag it for yourself as something important (the same way you might with work emails). Can anyone else shed some light on this?

[Helen350]

@Huma0 @Rich-and-Yan0 - If you click the 'report this profile' link, you get one of those small white screens in the centre of the page, with the original profile screen greyed out behind.... The pop up screen reads "What's happening? (This will only be shared with Airbnb.)" We then get to tick one of 3 boxes (circles)

- I think they're scamming or spamming me

- They're being offensive

- Something else

Once we've made our choice, OK button changes from ghosted to blue/green so we can click on it. - Have a look, - You can't accidentally report anyone unless you click 'OK'!

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Helen350 Thanks for that tip. And yes, that's exactly what I did, and I was just saying to @Huma0 above, I checked only minutes ago and the guest:

a) still has an active account

b) has a "you have already reported this user" under his name

So, I have followed the procedure, and Airbnb has been made aware of this. Why they did not follow up on this and remove the guest (who, I should add, offered nothing for getting on the site but an email address) is beyond me. But if you've read any of the above replies, then you will see that 100% of the hosts who have replied to this thread think that Airbnb should be more active in removing these scammers.

If many hosts are having the same experience and if we are reporting these guests and nothing is being done, then that, to me, is a problem. Maybe the solution, as one of the other hosts has suggested, is to report them and then follow this up with an email to Airbnb? It might be the only way to have them take some definitive action.

Thank you again for your advice. I love this hosting community.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Huma0 Cheers. As I mentioned above, I did report this guest and nothing happened. I checked again just now and their profile is still active, and on it, the text clearly says, "You reported this user." Yet, nothing was done--and that, to me, is a problem, because if you look at the pages of responses here, you will see that this was not only a scam attempt, but that these scammers have been trying the same thing with several other hosts. (And those are just the ones who have responded to my initial post. Who knows how many more attempts there have been...?)

[Enrique728]

Hello I just got the same message today! My first impression was -This is fraudulent since the first word!- so I declined him and report him as possible scam and blocked the user!

I'm so glad we find this forum so we can confirm it was an scam attemp!

This was the message "“Hello, Enrique! l'm Michael. Soon I'm having a business trip to San Salvador. 1 came acrrosss your listingg andd wwouldd likke to book your apartment But tthere is one moment tthat 1 would like to share with you The thing is tthat I am actuaIly not planning to stay in your househoIdd my g00d oldd friend is going tto hhost me instead. I have a plan to stay at my friend's home once I'm there and not to check into your apartment at all. Here's my proporsal. Book your household, never check in and just share the rental fee that will be paid by my employer There's notthing for you tto worryy aboutt. 1f you aree interested to earrn some easy m0ney and he1p me to achieve that as we11 p1ease gett bback tto me as soon as you can. You can contact me in V VHaTs 5ap. This is my numbra fourrr fourrr sevennn fourrr twooo fourrr sevennn eighttt threeee sixxx twooo sevennn”

The funny part " Soon I'm having a business trip to San Salvador" and the airport is closed so all the flights too, and gave me a number from UK, also my English isn't good since isn't my first language, but the writing didn't take a good impression on me,  highlighting  it was an UK number.

Thanks @Rich-and-Yan0 for the post! With this we can alert hosts from all over the world from this fraudelent moves, and hopefully prevent someone

Be safe and follow the recommendations about COVID19!

Have a nice day!

Enrique