Owner wants to lease through airbnb.. scam?

[Ivy23]

I found an apartment listing on apartments.com the other night. I contacted the owner with some questions that same night. The next morning it was no longer listed. However the owner emailed me back. It sounded all good until they told me they had just moved out of state for a job, and the easiest way to handle the lease would be through Airbnb. Here is the email below: 

"I'm ready to make all arrangements for inspection, but now I live in North Dakota and it will be a little difficult to meet you personally so to make the rental process easier for both of us I would like to use Airbnb. Through them we can arrange the inspection and also they will provide assistance in handling the payments and rental contract. However, I hope this will not change your intentions to rent my apartment as I am not able to travel to meet with every potential tenant. I'm paying their charges so there will be no extra costs for you.

In order to make a reservation I will need your contact information (name, address, phone number) and a copy of your ID or passport. The Airbnb agent will require you to show the Passport or National ID in original when you inspect the property. The copy is needed in order to fill in your contract. Once I register the transaction with Airbnb, you will receive a notification message from them containing a receipt with all information about rental, along with payment instructions to secure the booking. The payment is a simple formality and by paying you are not obliged to rent the apartment. After you make the payment deposit to Airbnb, you will be contacted by an Airbnb agent to agree on a suitable date and time to view the property.
- If you are completely satisfied with the property, all you have to do is sign the lease and receive the keys to the house. A copy of the contract will remain with you, one at the agency and one copy will be given to me with the first month of rental and security deposit.
- If for any reason you will not be happy with the property, the Airbnb agent will return your deposit immediately. Reimbursement will be made by bank transfer or cash on the spot. In this case, the transaction is terminated without additional obligations for the Tenant or Landlord.

To make a thing clear, the first rent of month and the security bond are required from the beginning so I hope this will not be a problem for you. The lease will start from the date when you move in and the next month will be due on the same date of the following month. If you are linked to another contract and you can not move immediately, we can arrange the inspection now and I can keep the apartment reserved until you are available to move around.
If you have any other questions, I would like to respond with pleasure."

Is this legitimate or a scam? 

[Elena87]

@Ivy23 There is no 'might be' about it, this is no doubt a scam.

Here is the key phrase in this message you got --''After you make the payment deposit to Airbnb, you will be contacted by an Airbnb agent to agree on a suitable date and time to view the property.''

This is what that phrase really means - '' After you wire the criminal money they will vanish, with your money''

Do yourself a favour, stop communicating with this fraudster, disrupt their activities by reporting their email to their provider.

Never ever wire money to strangers and look for property only on reputable sites.

[Marzena4]

I'm afraid, @Ivy23, it might be simply a scam. Airbnb doesn't operate through agents to cut it short.

[Mia107]

Hello! Yes I just got almost the exact same Email and have been looking online for people with the same experience and sadly it is a scam:( 

[Vijendra0]

I also got a similar e-mail. I was surprised with such a low price for huge apartment and had never heard of Airbnb working like this. I also wrote to Airbnb Help on twitter and got following reply

Occasionally, people create fake emails or websites designed to look like Airbnb. These sites can be used to try to steal personal information, such as your password or bank account info. This is often called phishing or spoofing. Please follow this link for more details: http://air.do/6014y6Mb2. Let us know if you have any questions further.

I could have proceeded further and verified the authenticity based on link provided by Airbnb Help when i would have got an email for making payment but I didn’t proceed further assuming that its a scam and i will suggest others to do some. Just ignore such offers. 

[Ruxi2]

Same happened to me. Seemed legit when talking to the owner. Then received the following:

Dear Customer,

We would like to inform you that we have verified your customer code and we have also received your details from the owner. At the moment, the reservation it's done in your name.

However, due to the fact that the rental of this apartment is long-term and the presence of an Airbnb agent is required to present the property and sign the rental contract, the deposit confirmation is required.

The security deposit charged by Airbnb is pre-arranged with the homeowner and this consists of the amount of two months rent (first and last month).

Before continuing and giving us an answer please read carefully the Terms and Conditions related to this rental process.

About the safety deposit:

- the security deposit must be made by bank transfer to our payment processor (you will receive an invoice with all the necessary indications and information)

- the security deposit made by the future tenants will remain locked in our account until they sign the lease (There is no possibility for the Landlord to take possession of the money deposited without the approval of the future tenant, even in this case Airbnb assumes responsibility and offers a full refund of the money.)

- this security deposit is not a final payment, future tenants may at any time request a refund.

- the security deposit is required in advance due to the fact that involves subcontracting a local agent to present the property in question, this generating additional costs for our company so we should present the properties only to people who are really interested.

All the information presented above is strictly applied to long-term rentals.

About the safety deposit refund:

- the deposit made by bank transfer is 100% refundable through our protection and refund policy and can be applied by our customers without giving a reason for their decision.

- future tenants can request a refund of the deposit made until the moment they sign the rental contract, after which the deposit is final and is transferred to the owner's bank account.

- if after viewing the property the future tenant does not want to sign the lease and take the apartment for rent, the local agent will contact the finance team to make an immediate refund of the deposit made.

Our team verifies the property for you! They also meet the landlord, so you have all the information you need to continue. We guarantee that the pictures are real and everything we present is checked in advance to avoid the execution of unnecessary deposits by future tenants.

We would like to specify that the visit can be scheduled at least at two days after the confirmation of the deposit.

Please let us know if you would like to continue and we will send you all the necessary information including the appointment schedule and invoice.

*Airbnb cares a lot about the safety of our customers and that is why it is possible to make several identity checks during the rental process.   

Best Regards,

Stella M. Myers - Airbnb Support Team

Airbnb Ireland, The Watermarque Building, South Lotts Rd, Ringsend, Dublin 4, VAT Number: 9827384L 

[Ruxi2]

This was received from Airbnb <airbnb@lease-agent.com>