Guest stole passport and changed profile

[Arinna0]

I had a guest book our room for a night. My husband was hosting. No real issues but he was a little sketchy.  A month later he booked for another night.  He said he was looking for a longer term place. I offered a room for a couple months. We signed an agreement and i took a deposit.  In the next few days i found a passport from a previous guest. It mysteriously disappeared from the hall table.  His rent check didnt come on time so i kicked him out. Turned out his rent check had come, along with my mail. Mailman told me he handed it to him.  The phone verified phone number didnt work. Shortly after, his profile became his girlfriends name and from a different country...  What id is being verified? He may try to use new found passport and my mail to make fake profiles.  I reported to police and airbnb. So far, nothing.  We need more security on the verifications!  This guy is a scammer and now his profile is all different. Anyone else seen this tactic? 

[Alice567]

Something similar just happened to me. I had a long term booking confirmed for one guest, from a user with a woman's profile picture, a Chinese name and nationality and verified ID. On the check in day, the guest informs me that her boyfriend will come to the house. Shortly after, the man calls me to obtain directions. I asked if he was going to stay at the listing or if his girlfriend was. He said he would be staying. I explained that the booking was for the original approved guest and that I wouldn't be able to accommodate him. Meanwhile the original user is messaging me saying she couldn't come due to work so that she had to let her boyfriend stay alone, however I reminded her she had booked for one person only and never mentioned another guest. She said her boyfriend didn't have an Airbnb account.

At the same time the man was messaging me and sent me a picture of his actual Airbnb profile, which existed for more than a year.

The original uestg then proceeded changing her user profile to match that of the guy. She changed the picture, name, language, nationality, everything, even the verified ID.

I was terrified and I am still unsure what is going to happen.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alice567  what is going to happen is that you will ask your guest to show you his ID at the arrival and you will take a photo of it.  And if you are smart, you will do the same with every future guests (th entire group) All you have to do is to put it in your house rules

[Alice567]

I appreciate your advice, however this doesn't solve the problem. A host as the rights to accept or refuse a booking based on the information provided before the booking. If that's information was false, just asking the ID of a person who shows at your door doesn't do a thing. Third party booking is not allowed.

Additionally, as I mentioned, the user changed their profile, which means that the booking now shows the details of the new updated profile which means I was defrauded and coherced into a contract without my knowledge.

I understand this might sound like you might be racist for accepting a guest from a nationality or gender, then refusing to accommodate when this guest polymorphs into another person of another nationality and or gender. But what we're missing is the lack of transparency, the actual fraud, or possibly identity tefth. 

[Alice567]

Additionally, what do I do with the picture of their ID? If any issue arises, who is responsible? The original person who booked? Who never showed up and whose account was overtaken by another guest? (Who already owned another account anyway)

Additionally, I have no clue of who is paying, if anybody. If I accommodate someone and not the person whose verified payment was used to book. I don't assume that person is going to be required to pay for not having been accomdated and I can't imagine how many other ways to defraud in this circumstance.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Alice567 

If it were me, I would have refused to let anyone who is not the person who booked stay as a guest. Period. 

I would have said I am happy to allow the account holder who actually made the booking stay, but a very firm NO to any unauthorized guests. At this point, it would be up to the guest to cancel or not, and I'd be very clear that I expect my cancellation policy to be completely respected. 

And all communication should stay on the Airbnb messenger for evidence. 

[Alice567]

That is exactly what I did. However, as I mentioned, the booking guest changed their entire profile to match that of the new guest.

Which means that the original booking details now reads as being done by the new person.

This means if the guy shows at my door he can show he's got a confirmed booking at my place.

Additionally the reservation was cancelled and my cancellation policy was not honored. Additionally I was advised that the guest "was not refunded", and that the "guest was given a booking coupon".

This simply showed me a way for malicous/identity tefth users to obtain free accomodations. Which is highly concerning.