A guest recently contacted me telling me she was trying to instant book my listing but was unable to and didn't understand why. After reading her reviews, I realised it was because she had a really bad one (my settings only allow guests with positive reviews to IB) which mentioned, in addition to other problems, that the profile was being used by a number of different people.
There were several other red flags, and, even after I told her I was not willing to host her, the guest continued to bombard me with messages. I had to tell her no again very firmly.
Shortly afterwards, I got a request to book that had been flagged by Airbnb as suspect. At first, I couldn't figure out why. Then I realised it was for the same room and same dates from a guest of the same nationality and age. The wording was almost identical to the first guest's initial message. This time the request was from a profile with no reviews and the name translated as 'teenage girl'. The girl who messaged me before was 19. She also changed her profile name half way through our correspondence.
I contacted Airbnb who checked the profile and told me I was right to be concerned (but wouldn't say why) and that I should block and report her. I still had to decline and it did lower my acceptance rate.
Both profiles are still active, including the one I was told to block and report and both are showing as verified. I have no idea how the second one can be verified, because I am 100% sure this is the same person (even the profile description is the same) using a fake name. Perhaps she set it up using her real name and then changed it, but she shouldn't be able to do that when she already has an Airbnb account.
The fake profile has been reported to Airbnb both via the website and directly to an Airbnb rep, but they haven't removed it weeks later.
Anyway, if you get a request from a guest whose name translates to 'teenage girl', do not accept it!