Please help me to figure out if this is fraudulent

Emilis0
Level 1
Kaunas, Lithuania

Please help me to figure out if this is fraudulent

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to figure out if this offer is legit or not. I was looking for an apartment in London, and i found one on another site called gumtree, the lady then asked me to email her to one of her other emails, which was kind of weird. Than she wrote me this (my apologies for the long email in advance) :

"Hello,
I currently live in Spain due to my work commitments. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends or other person back in the UK who could arrange a viewing of the property with you.
Airbnb will require the first month's rent + one month security deposit, meaning a total of £1500 that has to be deposited with them. You'll be contacted by Airbnb and you'll receive their payment details with the warranty for your deposit.
After you've sent the payment deposit to Airbnb, you'll be contacted by an Airbnb agent to agree on a suitable date and time to view the property. Upon viewing the property, if you decide to rent it, the Airbnb agent will provide you with the rental contract which you can sign there and then. If you decide to sign it and move in, Airbnb will release your payment deposit to my account 30 days after your move in date, all this time your money will stay with Airbnb. If you decide not to rent my property your one month's rent payment + one month holding deposit will be fully refunded to you by Airbnb without any charges.
 
This way Airbnb will handle the money and the property's keys to ensure a smooth transaction.
 
If you agree to the above terms, please provide the following details for your rental application so that I can register the transaction with Airbnb and move forward.
 
- Your full name and full address;
- Your phone # (a valid mobile number where Airbnb can contact you);
- The date of check in
- Move IN  date and for how long would you like to rent
- A photo/scan copy of your Passport or National ID (needed in order to fill in your rental contract).
 
If you are ready to start the transaction and make the Airbnb booking just tell me and i will start it today and this week you can have the keys
Claudia"

I'm just wondering if everything that shes telling is legit?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Best regards,
Emilis.

5 Replies 5
Letti0
Level 10
Atascosa, TX

@Emilis0  Yes this is fraud. Do not give the information or send any money you will lose it all. AirBnB does not require security deposits and does not have AirBnB agents. This is a scam.

Emilia42
Level 10
Orono, ME

@Emilis0, Definitely a fraud. Skip this apartment and move on to the next one. 

Cor3
Level 10
Langerak, South Holland, Netherlands

Hi @Emilis0,

 

It sounds pretty similar like this thread on the Dutch Community: https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Help/Info/m-p/643624

 

Definitely fraudelent!

 

Airbnb will never send Agents and that sort of stuff!

 

So, it seems to be a global and widely used trick 😞

 

When you want to book some property on/via Airbnb. Always make sure, you are using a genuine Airbnb Site.

Elena87
Level 10
СПБ, Russia

@Emilis0 

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Rental-scam-using-Airbnb-How-should-I-go-forward-if-at-all/...

 

Scam, widely discussed at length on the thread above.

 

In a nutshell, bait is laid with a nice affordable flat + 'plausible' story given = ask for cash to be wired

 

Of course there is no flat, shaggy dog story, they mention airbnb only to try to gain your trust, once you wire money you will never see it again.

Give gumtree a wide berth and use a reputable site instead.

 

 

Victoria567
Level 10
Scotland, United Kingdom

Gumtree is an offshoot of eBay.

Buyer beware!