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

[Elizabeth103]

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? 

[Michael5999]

Thank you for sharing/posting!

I just interacted with someone who used the same exact verbage, except for price and name, for a rental in San Francisco.

So messed up.

[Lindsey311]

Oh my God, she emailed me as well!! But for an apartment in nyc instead. I'm glad I didn't go through with it.

[Daniel8708]

I've actually sent the link to this post to my scammer haha. Look out for Chloe-Marie Anderson (canderson393@aol.com) I wrote a Reddit post here (https://www.reddit.com/r/AirBnB/comments/q2gh7q/watch_out_for_rental_scams_on_airbnb/). She tried to defraud me of £2000 telling me the exact same information "An agent will greet me" "Give me all your information". Be careful out there folks. 

[Tony1371]

It seems a repeat offender is back....  Using Airbnb as "agent"

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/410704743747987/?ref=search&referral_code=marketplace_sear...

https://www.facebook.com/andrew.loofe

HaleyKimberlin3SA@yahoo.com  ....... As on Page 70 of this article

[Larissa355]

I received a similar email that I read here 

The apartment is currently rented, but will be available to move starting with 2th of November.
It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment, located on the second floor and comes fully furnished, with all the necessary amenities: dishwasher, washing machine, air conditioning, tv and internet.
The monthly rent for the entire property is £650 and it is also important that the additional costs (gas, water, electricity, TV, parking and council tax) are included in the price.. The pets are accepted. There are one parking spots, a storage unit where you can deposit my furniture (if you don't like it and you want to use your furniture).
I would like a long term rental (minimum 6 months). For which period do you need it?
I'm looking for a serious and responsible person to care, keep the house clean and see it as his own home. It would be great if you can send me some personal information about you (age, employment, lifestyle, etc)?
As you will see in the attached pictures, it is a truly luxurious apartment in which was invested a lot of money so will be required a security deposit of £750 upfront.
At the moment I am working in Cape Town so I can not meet you in person, but I have a solution to this inconvenience.

Let me know if you are interested!
With best regards, Dr. Eleanor West

[Samantha919]

Received this yesterday - Disgusted.

Congratulations on renting the apartment ! You are receiving this email because the owner Chloe Marie Anderson has registered you as a potential guest. We have attached you the invoice! This invoice is in PDF electronic format. Double click on the attached file to view the invoice and please follow the enclosed payment instructions.

If you have any questions, please e-mail us, or call us at: +44 20 7193 8052

Thank you,

AirBNB Mail Team

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Samantha919 I am confused (to put it mildly). Who are you disgusted with?

[Samantha919]

Disgusted with the scammers! You have to be so careful these days.

[Sarah977]

@Samantha919  Anyone who knows how Airbnb works would know that there is no such thing as "Airbnb Mail Team" and that hosts don't register guests. Nor does Airbnb send a guest an invoice, nor are there "payment instructions".

[Samantha919]

If you have never booked through airbnb before, how are you to know. Don't be so judgemental.

[Sarah977]

@Samantha919  That post I just made cut off the last part of what I had written, that's why it sounded judgemental, sorry.

What I had gone on to say was that people need to read up on the Airbnb site about how Airbnb works before answering these ads they find on other sites. If you do that, it will be hard to scam you. 

There are so many online scams, having nothing to do with Airbnb, like the Nigerian prince who has a million dollars to send you, all you have to do is send him money for the processing charges.

We all need to do our due diligence and do some research before just naively believing what some total stranger tells us online, and sending off money.  

[Somin8]

Hi, thanks for this discussion. I unfortunately got scammed as well by a woman claiming to be Ana Martinez. She uses the same tactics but I found her emails to be extremely convincing..this is the fake url airbnb site she redirected me to. I even got a pdf invoice and everything! 

[Sarah977]

@Somin8  I'm so sorry you got scammed. It's a hard lesson to learn, but had you taken 15 minutes to find out how Airbnb works, you would have known this was a scam. 

Airbnb doesn't have agents who show you the place or give you keys, they don't send PDF invoices, that isn't what an Airbnb confirmation code looks like, guests don't authorize Airbnb to release the funds to the host, hosts do not arrange the booking, and you do not send money to anyone. 

[Somin8]

Hi Sarah, yes I have used airbnb before in 2019, but I had assumed the rules would be different with COVID. I was fooled by the legit looking disclaimer that deposits can not be paid by credit card as it is standard procedure in many cases. That's also why I was fooled by the confirmation of the release of funds, because usually when you rent a house, that's standard procedure in Switzerland. I had planned to rent for a month initially and extend the contract.  Although I guess I was desperate to find a place in Zurich as well. I must also note that the screenshot I posted was of a FAKE but genuine looking airbnb.com URL which was fully interactive as well. 

And it's hard to know what a legit airbnb invoice or a confirmation code looks like. You may be an experienced host, but most people are not.  Before, I had travelled in Thailand and met a host through facebook who agreed to let through airbnb and arrange the booking because I didn't want to pay a deposit-it all worked out fine for me. I stayed there for five months and the amount was charged each month I think. When I moved to Switzerland, I sent money without meeting the host face to face because I was abroad after conversing in Facebook and it all turned out to be fine... guess I had too many positive experiences with trusting people beforehand. 

Anyway, I am just posting my experience here, so people can know what an elaborate scam this is. You will get a real-looking airbnb url that asks you to upload the invoices and everything. If you have not rented long term on airbnb after covid it's easy to fall for this type of scam. 

[Sunnie9]

Just had the same email sent to me. From a Jennifer Hamilton who is calming to be working in Dublin and can’t come over but a AirBnb agent will sort this out. Scam. 

email: jenniferhamilton056@gmail.com

address of scam property: 819 London Rd, Worcester Park, Sutton SM3 9BN