Scams

[Rose45]

Hi. - If this is a scam it is clever as it is simple. We had guests who made a booking which cost them $460 for three nights.    (They had also tried to make a booking for double that amount but I had declined it so you could reasonably expect that they had funds of at least $1000) We are not on instant book and I pre-approved the cheaper booking and declined the more expensive second booking.  They  emailed a few times and I provided the address et al. They then cancelled the booking but turned up saying that they had made the booking and showed that the Airbnb had taken the money from their account.  There was no booking in my system so there was no way I could be paid for their booking by Airbnb.  Everytime I asked for a phone number the email came up that the number was blocked so it looked they were providing it but in reality weren't - Perhaps they had a privacy block on their phone.   They were airbnb verified but only to the extent of their email.   The woman did not appear to have enough money in her account to pay again  (even though the second booking was double the price and booked by him indicated that he had funds ) - they insisted they would not pay again .   They kept insisting that they had paid. We went on the airBnB website and it said there was only a 24 hour hold on their funds but after two days the money had not been refunded back to them. We let them stay for two nights without paying even though they had no booking with us - so there was no link to us in the Airbnb system and they had cancelled the booking.   Their account clearly showed it was a Visa hold. They knew they would get the money back. They kept saying they had not cancelled the booking and had paid.  We had no details on them so asked for a drivers licence. The man said it was his brothers car and said he did not have a drivers licence on him even though you have to carry a drivers  licence by law.  We had no addresses and no details on them except a car registration for a car which they said was not theirs.    Our car ended up parking them in as we had to back the car out to hang up washing.  We usually get up early and noticed him carrying a bag to the car early in the morning.  They appeared to be leaving but could not move the car.  They then said they wanted to move to the more expensive accommodation and had to go out to the bank to get the cash so the car needed to be moved.   I had a fast-pay machine and said you don't need to go the bank - you can pay straight away.   They said they wanted to talk together for a few moments.  Then came back and said they wanted to leave and did not feel welcome.  They then said they were not paying the full amount.   It was all pretty uncomfortable.  They ended up leaving and not paying the third night.  The Airbnb  hold on the funds with Airbnb gave them an opportunity to not pay us.  If this is not a scam though everything points to it - is there any way you can access funds from Airbnb in such situations?  I would assume that Airbnb could not pay us unless they somehow reinstated their booking otherwise they could claim they had no booking and were not liability. Was there a way of getting them to reinstate their booking without them having to pay again to Airbnb?

Or was there any way to register a booking and access the funds held by Airbnb in these situations?

My advice is not to let people in to your property who have not paid.

[Catherine460]

All good advice I am having concerns about a couple of enquiries.  Thank you for your  coverage of this matter.

[Susan202]

I was almost scammed by someone "selling" rooms in a house that does not belong to them.   They wanted funds wired to a bank in Spain.  I think this group is operating out of Romania and uses a bank in Malaga.  Watch out for them!

[Catherine401]

Same thing happened to me. I was trying to reach them using the number that was on the website but its not existing. I booked for 4 days to them but not reaching 24hrs yet, i cancelled my reservation because of some reason. They approved my transcaction and they emailed me that for a week i can get my money back. On the next day, when i checked my account they deducted twice instead of giving me my refund.

[Sean71]

@Catherine401 When a Airbnb user books a room, Airbnb holds the funds until the check-in date.  At the date of check-in, the funds are released and transferred to the hosts account.  If it was deducted twice, I would contact Airbnb immediately to have them resolve the situation as they handle all of the payment processing for users/hosts.  IE:  As a host, there is no way for me to deduct anything from a users account. 

[Jessie35]

This was sent to me to pay for an appartment rental!!!! Amount requested R16000!!!

You have to make the payment with MoneyGram or Western Union for your transaction to our agent name and address bellow:

- Name: Fred
- Surname: **
- Address: ‎** Harewood Rd.
- City: London
- Zip/Postal code: **
- Country: United Kingdom
- Phone: +[phone number hidden]
- Passport ID: **
- Date of Birth: **

 Once payment was completed we need to receive the copy from the payment receipt in order to verify your payment and confirm the inspection.

Thank You.
Airbnb Inc!

[Jessie35]

       Welcome to Airbnb

               Going on a trip? Book unique homes and experience a city like a local..

Airbnb process started: 30/05/2017 Status: Pending payment!             Airbnb Transaction #1621314 started!

Dear customer, we have approved the transaction, please fill your Airbnb transaction in 5 easy steps: 1. Both parts agree on the transaction terms and price; 2. The owner contacts Airbnb with the transaction details; 3. Airbnb accepts the transaction and offers purchase protection (if the transaction is declined, no further action is required); 4. The tenant sends the deposit to an Airbnb agent. The payment is verified and locked; 5. Getting the documents and keys and the property is checked. Dear Suzy Nicholas your host is Vanessa Jacobson Property address: 188 Ocean View Dr, Cape Town 8051, South Africa     _______________________     Bedrooms:  2     Bathrooms: 2     Monthly Rent: ZAR 8.000     Deposit: ZAR 8.000     _______________________     Total: ZAR 16.000 Your reservation has been accepted, please follow Airbnb payment instructions within the next 48 hours. The payment is processed and collected by Airbnb in full. The security of your funds is ensured, and you’ll be protected by policies, such as cancellation policies and the Guest Refund Policy.   After the property is inspected, the potential tenant has two options: ·  Sign the rental agreement and Airbnb will immediately transfer the deposit to the host bank account. ·  Not sign the rental agreement and Airbnb will immediately return the deposit (the total amount of ZAR 16.000 without retaining any charge) to the Potential Tenant (the return time is no more than 24 hours after receiving the tenant's claim). Atention:  In both cases Airbnb does not unlock the deposit without the exact instructions of the tenant. Only the potential tenant Suzy Nicholas can access the funds.

[Pol7]

Got one that looks identical, address is slightly different. But literally had the same "Transaction number". Sent them back a interesting email hahaha

[Meital1]

i had an occurence tonight which was incredibly strange. A couple from Brazil reached out to book my partners apartment for 7 days about a month ago, they asked no questions but then yesterday called him to say they were in the country and wanted to check into the apartment early. He met them in the morning and gave them the keys to the apartment. A few hours later he received an email from an airbnb rep on an airbnb letterhead, saying that the customer had to cancel the booking because they found illegal drugs in the lsting. There were a whole lot of spelling errors in the email which said that no action would be taken but they simply wanted to let him know that pictures had been taken.

So my initial reaction is that they used a stolen credit card to pay for the reservation which requires a 50% deposit, they then checked in to show that their booking was legit but subsequently made up some story and generated a scam email to get their 50% deposit back and I assume changed their payment method such that the chargeback was returned to some other account..

Anyone experience the same thing before?

[Hanneh0]

You can always call Airbnb - their phone number is 855.424.7262

[Isak-Andrè0]

Be careful about hustlers in Oslo, Norway!

I just had to show a lady the way to a hotel because someone had rented out a room under false conditions.  We have no idea where this guy is, but he was not at the address she had got. 

This one had put up a false ad leading her to pay up 225$ in advance. 

So he could be anyone, anywhere. Be cautious.