Payment off site

[Veska1]

Hello. I was trying to book an apartment in Bristol, UK. Thanks lady whosw apartment I was supposed to take send me a reservation link that was active only for 24 hours. So when I was trying to pay through the app, I entered a wrong address for the card by mistake, so my bank said they won't transfer the money because the address that my bank has and the one I entered by mistake are different. So I received an email from someone named Tamara Moore saying if I want the place I should transfer the money in the next 24 hours and she send me the address and the IBAN of the account where I had to transfer the money. And I did it, but didn't know Airbnb does not do that usually. And then I kept receiving emails from the same email address but from person named Owen Franklin claiming I have already booked the apartment and they are just waiting to receive the money. It's been more than 10 days, but the money are still not in their account. So I guess these people lied to me and they stole my money. The amount of money were almost €1000. I need help to get them back. Please if there is someone who could tell me what to do, I'm looking forward to hear from you. The worst is my trip will be in 5 days and I don't have more money to pay for another apartment or a hostel. Please, help me.? 

[Emiel1]

Hello @Veska1 ,

NEVER transfer money outside the Airbnb system.

You probably are a victim of scamming, sorry.

Transferring money to an IBAN directly is NOT Airbnb procedures.

Best regards, Emiel

Added: i would strongly advise you to contact Airbnb asap:

Contact Airbnb - A Community Help Guide [UPDATED]

[Matthew285]

@Veska1, what a terrible thing to have happen!

How did this person "Tamara Moore" get involved? Is that the lady who owns the apartment and sent you a link?

And who is "Owen Franklin"?

What was the link they sent you?

So many questions!

This is why AirBnB tells guests to only search on the AirBnB site, only message on the AirBnB site, and only pay on the AirBnb site. There are so many wicked people hoping to steal your money.

If the people who took your money are not involved with AirBnB at all, then there is not much AirBnB can do to recover your money (they never saw it). Is anyone involved in this an actual AirBnB host?

[Veska1]

Tamara Moore and Owen Franklin claimed that they are working at Airbnb support. And when I made a mistake with the address I rcereceiand email from them saying if I want to the place in the next 24 hours I should pay on the following bank account, and they have sent me a bank account details that are for a bank in Italy. I didn't think for a second this could be a scam, because I've used the platform before, and the website I used to book the apartment looked like the real Airbnb site. ;( 

[Matthew285]

@Veska1, the scam sites *do* look exactly like the legitimate AirBnB site!

So Tamara Moore and Owen Franklin contacted you via email, *not* via the AirBnB messaging system? In the future, that should be a red flag. Any AirBnB person will only contact you via their messaging system.

And, of course, anyone telling you to send *any* money outside the AirBnB payment system is not legitimate.

[Sarah977]

Real airbnb support staff would never contact you and tell you to pay off-site. If this is an actual airbnb listing, flag it and report this to airbnb. Your only other recourse at this point is to go to the police and file a fraud report.

[Khira2]

Hello! 

I must tell sadly that this happened to me as well just few days back! I live in Finland and I contacted a guy from internet who claimed that he could rent me the apartment through the Airbnb because he lives in Italy and it would be much easier to manage the rent by Airbnb.

I was very suspicious but really he couldn't convince me that there is nothing to worry (yeah right...). 

So he sent me the link straight to hes Arbnb site and everything looked like normal. Even I saw some rewievs that was wrote by the customers who were renting this aoaapartm before from him.

He claimed to be Joachim Winther (winther44@mail.com) and person who is living in Italy but has a apartment in Finland that's empty. 

After I booked the days to stay informed email from Tamara Moore who claimed to be an Airbnb host and told that the money went to an wrong bank account and that they will return me the money back soon as possible and send another bank account details .. 

It seemed very weard.. well it was. 

I never had my money back anymore. 

[Avelino4]

Igual me aconteceu hoje..! Respondi a um anúncio de aluguer de um apartamento em Braga, Portugal, fornecendo meu e-mail ao site.

No dia seguinte a pessoa que dizia ser dona do apartamento me enviou um e-mail dizendo chamar-se Geraldina Dellucci e que para garantia de ambas as partes ela me indicava a Airbnb dizendo ser muito confiável, mandando-me logo de seguida todos os elementos necessários para lidar com a Airbnb. Logo de seguida recebi a factura com os valores que teria de pagar (1002€) no prazo de 24 horas pois só assim poderiam enviar alguém para inspeção do apartamento, tendo eles também enviado o IBAN, SWIFT, etc para que eu fizesse a transferência, o que fiz ! Também recebi dois emails de uma tal Tamara Moore da Airbnb nessa mesma data informando-me que minha reserva estava garantida mas que teria que pagar no prazo de 24 horas e enviar-lhe o comprovativo bancário, o que fiz. A partir daí ninguém mais respondeu ao que eu queria saber sobre com quem falar, etc, etc..

Seria para eu entrar hoje no apartamento, mas esperei o dia todo e ninguém apareceu...!

Já apresentei queixa nas autoridades competentes...!

[Emiel1]

Hello @Avelino4 ,

All procedures you mention are NOT Airbnb procedures. So you are scammed and you did not use the official Arbnb website to book accomodation

Only thing you can do is go to the police, sorry.

Best regards, Emiel

[Gabriela451]

Hi! 

I had the same situation.... Me and my friend paid 1400€ for apartment through fake generated link. Everything looked exactly the same as airbnb page. 

What did you do with your lost of money? Did you go to the police?

We called Airbnb and they said that they will try to solve the problem but we are still waiting for response. 

It should be some way to get our money back. That what this woman did is illegal. She can not offer apartment in the name of Airbnb. 

[Victoria567]

NEVER transfer money outside of the air bnb platform.

Get in touch with air bnb asap and get them to advise you on the correct procedure to pay for this booking.

[Alexandra1230]

I was actively looking for an Airbnb for myself and 5 friends in Byron bay Australia, I found one and booked in through Airbnb as normal, then I refreshed the search on Airbnb and saw on the top of the page a listing for an amazing house for a similar price, with more rooms etc. I clicked on the add and in the images there was a screenshot message stating to communicate with the owner via WhatsApp, also note she was a super host and my other friends that also saw this add also verified with me that she was verified, and the house looked great. So I contacted her via WhatsApp and I have attached the entire conversation and screenshots of the listing to this email. As you can see from the conversation she sends me a link to Airbnb, have a look at the URL it takes me straight to Airbnb however, this Airbnb website actually turned out to be fake, but it looks absolutely identical to the real website hence I was so deceived! I was then fooled into paying for this Airbnb as it looked identical to the website and I found the listing through the real Airbnb website search feed. 

Please assist me in how I can regain this money or seek compensation from you so I can trust Airbnb for future trips, 

Also to add, since this issue arouse I have so far, filed a report to my local police, contacted TransferWise (see screenshots) in attempt to stop the transfer (it was too late), I have also attempted to stop it coming from my card but the money had already transferred, therefore all that's left is to seek your assistance as of course the fraud came from your site. 

I have attempted to fill in the "Offsite payment fraud" but it would not allow me to submit my answers even despite many tries on different devices and browsers, I have kept every little bit of detail regarding the fraudulent case as it is a significant amount of money I have lost and have lots of screenshots of everything I experienced. See attachments. I have also left a drobox link with all the evidence below.