Fraudulent guest?

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Fraudulent guest?

Hello, I am new to hosting.  So far so good and I love airbnb.  I received an inquiry from someone name John and he wanted to rent the entire year for his family of 10 people.  I became suspicious because the amount that he was willing to pay for is in over what the normal credit card or debit card charge normally allows.  I also noticed he just joined Airbnb in Sept which is this same month; he has no profile picture; he appears speaking in Chinese (I do not speak Chinese) and has some kinds of application translating in English which most times not showing an accurate meaning of his questions and answers.  I replied asking about his intent (twice) to rent this long term and he did not provide an answer.  I intentionally did not reply to him for 1 day and when I did again, he would reply instantly as if he is sitting at the computer waitng to reply back, at all hours.  This evening, he asked for a video of the house, which I did not provide.  Followed my instinct, I decided to decline his request but really wanted to ask the community to see if anyone sees this activity as being fraudulent, if so, is that often?   Any feedback of your similar experience is appreciated.  Thank you.

1 Best Answer
Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Chinh10  Anyone renting their property for a year should IMO NOT be using AirBnB.  If you want to accept an offer to rent your property for a year, the renter should be given a legal contract (under your local law) to sign, be sent through a bank verification process, and pay a damage or security deposit equal to 1 or 2 months rent.  

 

I would NEVER EVER rent long term through AirBnB.  Know your local law about long term renters and their rights and be aware of how AirBnB's policies and practices meet or do not meet your local law.

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8 Replies 8
Basha0
Level 10
Penngrove, CA

Yup, sounds scammy. I’m not sure where you are located, but bookings past a certain length can be subject to issues removing a guest from the home. I only rent short term. Plus I think there can be issues receiving payments 

Thank you so much. I am in North Carolina.  

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

I would report his profile to Airbnb and block him so he can't contact you further.

 

By the way there's no such language as 'Chinese'. It would have been Mandarin, Yue (Cantonese), Xiang (Hunanese), Min dialect, Gan dialect, Wu dialect, and Kejia or Hakka dialect.

I will do that - I declined his inquiry and he has not contacted me.  Thank you so much!

Lorna170
Level 10
Swannanoa, NC

@Chinh10  Anyone renting their property for a year should IMO NOT be using AirBnB.  If you want to accept an offer to rent your property for a year, the renter should be given a legal contract (under your local law) to sign, be sent through a bank verification process, and pay a damage or security deposit equal to 1 or 2 months rent.  

 

I would NEVER EVER rent long term through AirBnB.  Know your local law about long term renters and their rights and be aware of how AirBnB's policies and practices meet or do not meet your local law.

I really appreciate your feedback.  The more I received the responses and the more I thought about this, I believe I made the right decision.  It's a little crazy how people just sit around and do all kinds of stuff like this.  Thank you kindly!

Helen744
Level 10
Victoria, Australia

@Chinh10 this may only be the system from overseas or not . I have had similar and I know that a lot of students from mainland China who could not travel during covid have an unmet pent up demand and are no longer choosing Australia for their future plans . These plans often include needing an address for visa applications and since 'families ' are not often ten people except by extension then this seems unusual . Ask as many questions as you can but a twelve month stay in an Airbnb may be a type of accomodation ,if serviced which would attract certain groups. these persons often ask for things that are different to what is actually being offered and display a lack of understanding of the platform or more importantly their own money .These may be a scam or not H

I appreciate your feedback.  Initially, I had a similar thoughts but the more I asked and got his answers, I started to doubt the legitimacy of his answers.  I will keep that in mind.  Thank you so much.