Fake apartment announcements. Be careful!

Claudia498
Level 1
Lima, Peru

Fake apartment announcements. Be careful!

Hey,

 

I was searching for an apartment in Lima, Peru. and i found one really nice, not on Airbnb, but the man who was the owner wrote me that he had to go to England because he found a job, and now he wasnt going to live here, he would rent the apartment.

Then i asked how would we make the contract if he's not here and he wrote me this:

 

"Firstly, I have to inform you that the price you will pay for the first month's rent will be US$----( money for the first month you move in my apartment ) and I ask also for a security deposit of US$----. So in total you have to pay $US ---- to be able to move into my apartment without any additional charges to pay. The money for the next months rent amounts ($US ---- ) I would like to receive monthly from you  directly into my bank account, so I hope it will not be a problem for you to wire the money.
 
I'm willing to send you the keys so you can visit and check the apartment . The delivery of keys and the rental contract (signed by me), will be made by Airbnb. They will also help us to make a third party transaction so you can therefore feel safe about this agreement.
 
To begin the transaction with Airbnb you need to send me the following details:
 
Full name:
Address:
City:
Post Code:
Country:
Mobile phone number:
ID Card copy or Passport copy
Copy of your gas or electricity bill
Date of Birth:
Date you want to move into the apartment:
Length of rental period you require:
 
Now let me explain to you how the transaction works:
 
After I receive all these details, I can go to the Airbnb office and start the transaction. When they have the keys and the real estate company in place, they will send you a delivery notification, in which they tell you that they have the keys and all the documents.
 
When you receive the delivery notification from Airbnb, you will have to go your bank office and make a bank transfer to the Airbnb agent in the Italy, assigned to this transaction for the amount we agreed ( ------ US$ ). If you don't have time to go to your bank office you can make the payment online . I'm just letting you know that your payment must be confirmed within 24 hours or earlier after the transaction is started.
 
After you make the deposit, you will have to send Airbnb the payment confirmation from the bank money transfer, so they know that you have already made the deposit. Airbnb will verify the payment and if everything is in order, they will deliver the keys and the rental contract to youwithin 48 Hours. Airbnb will send to you an agent to your home, and that person will come with you to visit the apartment to see that all is in order. If you are satisfied with the flat, you will then sign the rental contract. However, if you are not pleased with the apartment for any reason, the agent will refund your money immediately, and I will get my keys and documents back ( I will write this condition into the rental contract, to ensure that you will get your money back ).
 
Also, in case you have another apartment right now, and you can't move immediately, we can make the agreement as explained here, and consider it only an inspection and reservation until you are able to move there.
 
I will pay for the services of the agency, so there will be no costs for you.
 
I await for your early response, because there are others interested in the apartment, and I need to know if I can count on an agreement with you."

 

 

So i searched for this method of fraud and i found some people talking about the same in other countries. So be very carefull, i read that airbnb has no agents that show apartments or send you the keys. He uses the name of Alan *** and the email is ***

 

 

17 Replies 17

NO NO NO NO....  scam.  Don't do any of this.  Perfect reason to not ever go outside the Airbnb system to pay.  

Gracias estuve a punto de caer en esta trampa..

este señor me contacto para hacer el pago..

[Personal information hidden]

HAY QUE TENER CUIDADO Y DENUNCIARLO

Y LO PEOR ES QUE USA EL NOMBRE DE ESTA AGENCIA. AIRBNB

 

Thank you I was about to fall into this trap ..
This gentleman contacted me to make the payment

BE CAREFUL AND REPORTED
AND THE WORST IS USING THE NAME OF THIS AGENCY. AIRBNB
[Personal information hidden]

Muchas Gracias Claudia. Justamente recibí el mismo email con el mismo nombre de Alan, pero leo a tiempo tu alerta y me alegra no haber caído con este tipo de estafas.

 

I got this email too and thought I should check online because it is too good to be true... However I already sent the details he asked for... What can he do with this information?  (I havent given any bank information etc) only the details he asked for so far...

es estafa, es la misma que hacen en muchos medios para obtener tu información

Tomoecita
Quincy
Community Manager
Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hola @Carla273 @Rosina10 @Mónica-Y-Mario0,

 

Soy Quincy y me encargo de dinamizar este foro angloparlante de Airbnb.

 

Te agradezco que utilices este foro para solventar dudas, pero quizás te interese saber que tenemos un foro hispanohablante en Airbnb, donde participan anfitriones en español. Te invito a que visites El Centro de la Comunidad, donde tu publicación, al ser en español, tendrá más visibilidad y más posibilidades de ser contestada por otros anfitriones de Airbnb. Te animo a que también publiques tu duda allí.

 

Un saludo y gracias por participar en la Comunidad de Airbnb.

 

Quincy

-----

 

Please follow the Community Guidelines // Volg de communityrichtlijnen

Hola Quincy,

Gracias. Soy nueva en esto y me alegra tener este espacio para aclarar mis dudas.

Saludos.

Carla 

Was the name of that contact Allan Ross, whilst I had the same situation here in Germany. He said that will send the keys and contract, the first month payment with Airbnb and the others to his personal account. 

Thank you for sharing this

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Scammers use lots of different names @Vlore0 

 

If they are asking you to pay outside of Airbnb then they are a scammer.

 

Genuine Airbnb hosts only make bookings and all payment through the Airbnb platform.

@Vlore0can you tell me some information about this "allan ross"? Cause here, in Hungary there's also a victim of this scam made by "allan ross". can u send me a private message please? thanks for help

hey @Vlore0 can you send me a private message as well? i’m having the same problem with this Allan Ross

also @Tibor24  can you help me with this too?

@Quynh35  Unfortunately, no one can help you with this. If you have sent money to a scammer, all you can do is to try to get the payment reversed.

Hello,

did anyone get refund from this scam? I lost yesterday 1500€. Same guy same apartment same story and fake Airbnb site 😏