Rental scam using Airbnb? How should I go forward, if at all?

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Rental scam using Airbnb? How should I go forward, if at all?

I have been trying to find an apartment and found a listing on a popular rental website (not Airbnb). We started e-mailing, and the owner told me that he lives in Spain and will be using Airbnb's services for payment. It didn't seem strange until this last email. What bothers me about this is that it doesn't seem to follow any of Airbnb's practices. It also threw up other rental scam red flags, such as the fact that he wants me to pay before seeing the property, he's asking for my personal information outside the Airbnb platform, and the place doesn't come up on the Airbnb search list. Here is the portion of the most recent e-mail that I find odd, copy/pasted, edited for clarity:

 

"If you decide to proceed with this transaction, I will need your phone number along with your full name and address where you can be contacted for the keys and the rental contract. Then I will start the process through Airbnb here in Spain, providing them your information. Next you will receive a notification message from them, containing a receipt with all the instructions that you need to follow in order to complete the process and receive the keys and the rental contract.
Regarding the payment, you will get all the necessarily [sic] instructions on the invoice, so you can deposit the money for the first month along with the warranty, into an escrow bank account from AIRBNB. They will hold and insure your money until you check the apartment and decide if you want to rent it or not.
As soon as you will complete the deposit of $1,100 + $1,100 = $2,200 into their bank account, an agent from Airbnb will meet and show you the property. You will be given one day inspection period to take a decision and [in case you are not satisfied with the apartment], next day the total amount will be refunded to you by Airbnb. If you'll like the flat then you can keep the keys, sign the contract, and we will fix a date for the monthly payment, that it has to be done by you directly to my personal bank account."

 

There's a lot about the whole exchance that seems quite.... off. The more I think about it, the stranger it sounds. There is nothing on Airbnb about "escrow accounts," etc. It just smells terribly fishy, and I want to make certain that my eagerness and need for a place to go doesn't get me ensnared into some scammer's net. 

 

So, what are your thoughts on this? 

1 Best Answer

at least you are wise enough to follow your gut instinct. if it walks like a duck,, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, the probability is that is a duck..  you are correct in  the assumption that is a scam.. it is..all around the mountain... it appears that these scam arists seem to have chosen spain as ground zero for these fradulent activities.. don't waste your time or money dealing with this person,,

find yourself a reputable agency with verifiable information not unless you like sending your money to unknown persons with unknown accounts.. i was almost victim of this okey doke, but saw at the last minute, after things just didnt jive nor was verifiable that i was being hoodwinked..

 

nope not a victim here...

 

rosemary

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1,192 Replies 1,192

SAME thing just happened to me with this fake one https://airbnb.reserva-piso.com/1/listing/41/view-w30ayufz/ee8V4TBCGA#host-profile 

Barbara2263
Level 1
Szigetszentmiklós, Hungary

Hi Daniele!

I just got scammed by this same person. I was very dumb, and I transferred the money to him. I’ve just found out today, that this was all a scam, and now I’m in Amsterdam without any money because of this **bleep**head. Can you please send me the phone number which he gave you? I now there is almost zero chance that not a fake phone as well, but maybe it will help the police in the investigation. Thank you very

Andrew2029
Level 2
Boston, MA

this happened to me as well!! any information on what to do/get my money back would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!

@Andrew2029  Unfortunately there is likely no way to get your money back other than talking to your bank or credit card company and seeing if they can reverse the charges or stop payment. You would talk to their fraud division. Also report to the police.

It's just like people who fall for the Nigerian prince scams where you just send them some money to process the million dollars they are going to send you.

Vj6
Level 2
London, United Kingdom

Just got into another situation like this with a 'too good to be true' house in London.

Watch out for someone called Aaron Aj Lodge in facebook marketplace.

He is the main contact and then said that I should send an email to Mulla Mariam <ddn54@yahoo.com>. Of course from there the AirBnb story starts.
Didn't had time to play more with these scammers but thought good to post the few details I had about them here. Cheers.

Chantelle34
Level 1
United Kingdom

@Elizabeth103 Just experienced the same thing as you, the scammer even emailed me a link to an Airbnb website but it looks fake, it mimics the Airbnb website almost perfectly, where do I report this?

The link looked like https://airbnb.comlocation-rooms...etc.
Mine was for an apartment in Paris, the name was Jose Antonio Diez Gomez and the email was antonio@adg-arq.com.

@Chantelle34  Report it to the site where you originally saw the ad and to the police fraud division. That URL isn't an Airbnb URL.

Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Chantelle34 I would try sending the link to Airbnb Customer Support FAO Trust and Safety team but I fear that they can't do much unless they have links to local law enforcement.

At the end of the day we all just need to keep publicising these scams and, if no one gets suckered in they will eventually go away.

My daughter just paid 3,900€ to the scammer,  she's a 20 year old student who worked and saved all summer to pay for this Uni apartment....very sad.

 

Václav3
Level 1
South Moravian Region, Czechia

I've encountered another one. Listed on a popular Czech site and the offer disappeared right after we started messaging. He used WeTransfer to send me a link in a text file. He also "lives" abroad, flat is a part of a heritage, and his daughter lived there during studies..blah, blah, blah... And the flat was very under the market price.

 

Screenshots of the website:

Screenshot_2020-09-01 2+kk Apartment in Brno, Brno-Černá Pole, Kunzova - Apartment for Rent in Brno.jpgScreenshot_2020-09-01 Ioanis's Profile - Airbnb.png

Edouard94
Level 1
London, United Kingdom

Same here jose antonio again

antonio@adg-arq.com

 I found it on seloger.com. Thanks for letting me know!!!

 

 

 

Kaat7
Level 2
Pittem, Belgium

I had the exact same last week. I found an apartment in Ghent, Belgium somewhere on another site. This is the e-mail I received from her after I sent an e-mail to the website where I first found it.

"Hello!
Nice to hear from you! Let me introduce myself, my name is Anna , I am an architect, I moved to the Faroe Islands, I have a project here that will take 2-3 years. Airbnb charge some fees for services that they offer, to avoid taxes we reserve the apartment only for the first 2 months through their system + security deposit ,you will receive the security deposit after 2 months by Airbnb. After you see the apartment we will do the lease agreement for the period that you want. In order to book the apartment, you will have to do the payment to Airbnb with your credit card. Airbnb will hold your payment until you move in , the lease agreement and you have seen the apartment. After you see the apartment, you will have to take your decision, if you wish to rent it or not. I will receive the money 7 days after you move into my apartment. If the apartment is not as I have presented it, you have the right to refuse it. Airbnb will refund your money to your account in 12 hours from your decision. After the first 2 months,if you want to rent more, you will pay the rent monthly directly to my personal bank account. If you require any further information, feel free to contact me."
 
We had contact via Whatsapp, she was using this phone number: +31 6 86434270. Everytime I asked her to call me to discuss the details, she didn't reply. She asked me all those personal questions, like what my occupation is, if I have animals, if I wanted to bring some furniture, etc. Eventually she sent me a link that lead me to Airbnb. Everything seemed normal and I paid. I had to transfer the money to a ING bank in Madrid, under the name Carlos Mosquera Lozano. IBAN number: ES17 1465 0100 9817 4044 3512, but after the payment, the link wasn't working anymore. She told me she couldn't make it to our appointment to see the apartment, we rescheduled and on Saturday, she didn't show up. Said it was because of COVID-19. I immediately reported it to the police. I lost more than a thousand euros. I don't know if I will ever get it back. I'm giving all these details so that if they use a different name, maybe they will use the same bank account. How come this happens so many times and it's not known to other people? 
Did somebody ever got their money back?

It happens to so many people because none of the people who get unfortunately scammed ever bothered to go to the actual Airbnb site and read about how Airbnb works. If you and they had, you would know that Airbnb doesn't work like that at all, and Airbnb hosts don't ask you for your ID , nor do they send you a big story about why they are renting the place. You don't get a refund after you see the place if you don't like it, if a refund is ever due to a guest it takes about 15 days for it to be refunded, not 12 hours, and you never send money anywhere- when you make a real Airbnb booking, Airbnb charges the credit card you have on file with them. That payment is held by Airbnb and released to the host after the guest checks in. 

 

So while it's terrible that you and others get scammed like this, informing oneself of how Airbnb works would save a lot of people from falling for these scams. And one should never, ever transfer money to some stranger they've spoken to over the internet or Whatsapp. In fact, when you make a booking on Airbnb, hosts and guests communicate via the Airbnb internal messaging system and phone numbers aren't visible to either party until a booking is confirmed.

 

@Kaat7

I think we might have gotten scammed by the same person. I also sent my money to a bank account in Madrid, and the details are almost identical. Did you ever manage to get your money back? I lost 1,288 euros ;.;