Scammer posing as customer for inquiry on room

[Kathy150]

I received "inquiries" last night about 2 of my rooms, one came at 10:07pm and the other at 10:14pm. Both from different 'people' (Anna and Shelley).

 This is the message from both: " hola How are ya doing I've seen your The Whiting House, North Room page on AirB-n-b.. pretty good impression, nice home! I am about to make your photos look professional and write the description for your airbnb listing.Follow up the link: host∎gigz∎me".

 Has anyone else had this problem? I emailed airbnb last night but haven't heard anything.

[Susan151]

@Kathy150 Since these were inquiries, as long as you respond within the 24 hour period, your listing will not be affected. You can then choose to "report this user." I doubt AirBNB will expend much effort on your email; and you should do the same.

[Kathy150]

@Susan151 Yes, thank you. I was just going to ignore it but then it dawned on me about my response time. So, I did decline, wrote my reason and then reported it. BTW, I have a sister that lives in Somerville!

[Susan151]

@Kathy150 And in the future, there is no reason to decline. It looks like you have to, but you don't with an inquiry.

[Kathy150]

Thank you again.

[Sarah977]

@Kathy150  Yes, there was another post from a host here the other day- exactly the same.

[Brian949]

I got the message last night on my 2 rooms, the same day i reached super host.  It came in the middle of the night, with the same message two different individuals.  I reosnded with the decline and a report.  I then found this message board.

[Lauren443]

I too just got a message saying they wanted to edit my listing and and photos. I declined and said no thanks.

This must be something new as I've never had a message like that in 4 years hosting.

[Ann72]

@Brian949 @Lauren443 I got two this week, too.  The first one I just said "No thank you," the second one I'm afraid I told to "F*** off."  After reporting both senders, their messages disappeared from my inbox entirely, which means they've been yanked off the platform.

[Sarah977]

@Ann72  But it seems they just keep opening up new accounts. Must be nice to have so much free time you can just sit around bothering people all day. Do they live in their parent's basement or maybe they're bored trust fund babies.

[Ann72]

@Sarah977 Yeah, I was pretty sure it didn't matter that they'd been shut down.  They're probably created by bots and for Airbnb to keep up with them it's like playing a game of Whack-a-Mole!

[Cheryl389]

I had this happen, and I decided to pre-approve and reply anyway so it wouldn't hurt my response rate, and I knew they would not likely be booking. I then reported it to Airbnb. It's good if everyone reports accounts that do this to keep the site safe. I temporarily registered for VRBO and chose to leave because I felt like it was a constant stream of attempts to scam me, and I am happy the problem isn't as bad here.

[Ann72]

@Cheryl389 Yes, I have one listing on Homeaway/VRBO, and I've gotten two bookings and one scam inquiry.  So 30% scam as opposed to a fraction of that on Airbnb.  🙂