Guest key Copying Scam

[Anthony608]

So, after ten months of renting out rooms in my house, I've had my first experience which was actually a bit scary.  A man from Boston reserved one of the two rooms in my house for a two night stay.  Everything was fine, he was sent all check-in instructions including a keycode for the front door and check-in instructions.

On the night of arrival, I returned around 9PM to find a woman a the front door, lightly tapping.  The house was locked up and dark as we didn't have other guests and I had been away.  I approached the woman, she was carrying a very small plastic bag and i thought she might have carry out delivery with the wrong address.  She could speak barely any English (I think she was Bangladesh) and after a few minutes began to say she had a reservation at the house.  I questioned her a bit more, now having opened the door and gone inside, telling her I didn't know who she was and that the only people staying in the house were two other guests who were both men.

She then produced a screenshot on her phone and it was the man from Boston.  Mind you, not the AirBNB app, but simply a screen shot he had apparently texted her.  I asked was she part of his party, she said yes, so I let her in and directed her to the room.  Now the interesting part.  She AT ONCE began asking for a key to the house.  I told her several times there was a keycode, it had been sent to the person who had reserved the room, and she should therefore have it already.  She repeated over and over again that she needed a key.  I finally got across to her that it was a keycode, there was no key, and I told her the same code which had been sent and stressed it was good for her stay and would be expire when she left (I was becoming wary at this point).

The woman went upstairs to the room and, after looking around, turned the light on, left the room, and closed the door behind her.  She then went outside and was on her cellphone and I could hear her say "no key. no key" over and over to whoever was on the phone.  She then walked away from the house (it was now close to 10PM) towards the local bus stop.  She did not return the first night and the second day the door stayed close so I was not sure if she had been in the room.  Upon checkout today, the door was still closed and, when opening to check the room, the room was completely undisturbed.  She had actually not taken a step into the room and apparently hadn't stayed there.

So, this is very suspicious.  I think she might have been hired to get into the house and get a key., possibly to copy it and come back days or weeks later possibly to rob the place.  But, I can prove nothing.  Also, I don't want to open the door to giving a refund since I thought there was someone in that room for two days, but now it appears she walked away the first night and never came back.

Any thoughts?  Has anyone seen a scam like this before?.

[Linda108]

Definitely weird, @Anthony608 .  So the man from Boston, the booking guest, reserved the listing for both bedrooms for 2 people?  Then he came and was in one room and later the young lady came for the second room but never actually stayed there, right? Did you communicate with him at all about the young lady?  I am a little confused by your post I'm afraid. If no one cancelled then you should be paid for the full reservation.  

Is it your hosting practice to allow the booking guest bring other guests without identifying them in a message to you?  I always ask the booking guest for the full names of all in their party.  Anyway since you use a code instead of a key, you are not in any danger of course.  Your booking guest would know that so I cannot see how he is complicit in any scam.  If you had not let the young lady in without further information or confirmation from the booking guest, you would not be exposed either.  

[Anthony608]

@Linda108 - No I have two bedrooms and the other bedroom was occupied by a completely different couple.  A very nice couple from Costa Rica who were showing up late that night and arrived after this incident.  They were not involved with this affair

The man from Boston booked a single room for two guests.  There *was* actually a message at the last minute where he said his "cousin" would be arriving to stay in the room with him.  There was no way this woman was his cousin and he himself obviously never arrived.

My instinct here is that this was some kind of scam where whoever booked the room is hiring people, maybe even deliberately people with very little English skills, to go to AirBNB rooms and get copies of the keys to the house.  I say this because the minute this woman realized there was no key to the house, she was gone.

I don't plan to report any of this to AirBNB at present.  It would be impossible to prove and I don't want to give back the room rental fee because for two days, I thought someone was in the room with the door closed.  It was only after the formal checkout time this morning that we entered the room and found it completely undisturbed, not even footprints in the fresh vacuum marks from two day before.

The keycode technically expires tomorrow when the Costa Rico couple departs.  I have already decided, if this strange woman shows up again tonight, after the booking is now over trying to get back into the house, I am going to treat it like a trespass situation.

[Sarah977]

@Anthony608  This most definitely sounds like a robbery stake out. It's the only thing that makes sense according to what happened. I disagree about contacting Airbnb- they need to be alerted to this, hopefully they do something like contact the guy and ask him what the deal is, since he never showed up and the woman never stayed either. He will go on to do this at other Airbnbs.

I'd also contact the police and give them this guy's info- he may be known to them.

[Anthony608]

@Sarah977- I may still yet contact AirBNB.  A big determination will be if this man from Boston reviews the room when no one actually stayed there.  I would also like to have a bit more evidence before contacting AirBNB.  There was a situation earlier from the beginning of the year (which you and I actually talked about I think!) where a couple from West Africa had stayed in my house for a double booking and then, weeks later, tried to tell the county they were tenants with a lease.  I had suspected they were going to try and do this and had taken a number of steps to protect myself.  In the end, the couple had rented the room attempting to establish residency in the state.  I told all of this to AirBNB, they said they would "flag the account", but I was later able to find at least the woman's account page and it was still active with no warnings that I could see.

[Linda108]

While I agree reporting the profile is appropriate, I also hope you will write a review that states the guest made a reservation, did not show up, failed to identify by name the cousin who showed up.  At the very least, communication is in question.  As a host, I appreciate astute hosts such as yourself providing a review.

[Sarah977]

@Anthony608  I don't see what a review has to do with it. it should be reported anyway, IMO.

If it had happened to me, I'd write the followig message to Airbnb-

TRUST AND SAFETY ISSUE (this way it will right away be referred to the correct dept, not just some CS

                                                        rep handling it)

I felt it crucial that I report this incident with reservation XXXXXXX

Then go on to state exactly what happened, as simply as possible, in chronological order.

You can't know or influence what Airbnb does with this, but at least they will be aware and it will be on record.