Couple on my front door step with scam accommodation address!

[Cherry22]

A couple came to my front door this evening having been given my address for their room for the night. I am NOT Air bnb and never have been. They clearly showed me the address which was mine as the location of the house they had paid for. They had travelled from Brighton to Rochester and thought it strange that the host was not answering his phone on the way here?

On looking at the pic it was in our area but clearly a modern property and not mine. They are now looking for another room for the night, I felt quite sorry for them. This is poor show and Airbnb should have checks in place to prevent this sort of thing happening surely?

[Helga0]

Hi @Cherry22, you are right, such things should not happen and they are rare. If the website is used normally, it would not make sense, as the fraudster would not get any money. 

Some people still pay outside the system, even if it’s shown prominently on every listing and on the  mails, that you should not. 

If your deceived visitors have called airbnb after leaving you, the fake host did not get money and they got it back. This is indicated on the website as well. 

[Cherry22]

Hi Helga

They paid via Paypall so they felt confident they would get the money back. On looking over the Airbnb website to make a complaint I was not impressed with their 'accessibility', its appauling - no contact us details, just drop down boxes from this to that, appauling. The whole company smacks of an organisation that does not want to be contacted! I am not an airbnb user and am not likely to be at this rate... 

This looks like the perfect platform to rip people off!

[Gordon0]

I smell a fish here. I suspect the 'victims' have not used the platform but have instead tried to facilitate a 'side deal' of sorts. PayPal isn't a valid payment method for Airbnb (in the UK). 

As for being a perfect platform to rip people off, I disagree. Tales like yours are very rare. 

[Helga0]

Hi @Cherry22, like @Gordon0 says. When they paid by paybal, it was probably not an official booking. Airbnb is a website, that handles everything: contact between guests and hosts, payment, insurance if there are damages. If the guest paid on airbnb, they got a booking confirmation with information to contact the service. They can also do it via the website by clicking on their reservation. 

If they paid the host directly, ghere is no reservation and it is harder to find the contact. 

Do you want the UK number? The grlp section of this forum has some lists created by fellow hosts, listing thd number for different countries. Or you can flag your own post here with the little flag. It has only the option “inappropriate content” but you could use it to get the post read by a member of the staff. 

You could pst a message “please call me vack, my address is used for a scam listing on airbnb and guests arriced at my door. “ you need a real phobd number in your profile, as you cannot post a phone number here. Then flag your own post. I believe someone will look into it and try to find the fake listing. 

[Helga0]

Sorry for spelling, I’m on the phone. Small xcreen, bad eyes. 

You can google the uk number or go to the airbnb website, click help and type Contact airbnb. You get the number of your county.   

[Paul154]

@Cherry22

You have a good sense of right and wrong.

From your complaints, it seems you have a superior way to do this.

I look forward to using your better system.

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[Ange2]

@Cherry22   They may have been trying to scam you, did they show a reservation print out with a reservation number?  That is the only way to ensure it is a bona fide reservation.

[Cherry22]

I can not see any benefit from whom ever it is scamming me? From all the comments received it definitely looks like Airbnb are squeaky clean and Could do no wrong. 

They still have not come back to me, which is poor service (in my book).

[Ange2]

@Cherry22   Some people may have felt sorry for them and invited them in. If you were an Airbnb host you might have thought  it was your mistake and invited them in to sort it out, scammers prey on such people. There are definitely sites that masquerade as Airbnb and scrap data off its site and charge people for non-existant listings.  But, no business is squeaky clean and Airbnb certainly make their share of mistakes. If it happens again, which I sincerely hope it doesn't, ask them to show proof of reservation by signing into their Airbnb account it would show the place, address, host name and then you'll know, and have the proof of whether it was the bona fide Airbnb site or a scammer site.

[Fred13]

Perhaps Airbnb had zero to do with all this. Inquirers (via the real Airbnb) have shown me 2x-3x the real Airbnb price they first obtained from an Airbnb-look-alike site. Where there is money involved, the scammers will follow.

[Edwin57]

Just want to said is better to be safe then sorry always remember that safety is first 

[Cherry22]

Airbnb have not come back to me on this. They seem to be a very ‘remote’ arms length company to deal with. I personally won’t be recommending them to people.