Beware the "Let's split the payment" scam

[Rich-and-Yan0]

Hi fellow hosts,

My wife and I are still relatively new hosts, just passing the 6-month mark about a week ago, but we have been following the hosting forums for much longer.

We have heard of various scams and scam attempts on Airbnb over the past few years, but this morning we were approached with what appears to be a new one--or at least, it was new to us. 

Basically, we got an email request for a long-term booking from this coming Tuesday, which seemed odd to us. Why, after all, would someone planning a long trip write on such short notice? The writer also claimed to be going on a business trip, which was another peculiarity. Our home is in the Algarve in southern Portugal, which is known for its climate, beaches and golfing--but not as a place people go on business trips. Even if they did, then we feel sure that they would have planned their trip more than three days in advance.

And then there was the language. Though the telephone number he secretly embedded in his mail was for an U.S. address in the state of New Jersey, his English (e.g. "Greetings. I am Alexander" and "But there is one moment that I would like to share with you") didn't sound like that of any American I've ever met.

Now here comes the really dodgy part: the writer claimed that he wasn't actually going to stay at our place, as he had a friend's house to stay at in Portugal but was getting paid by his company for accommodation costs. So, he said that if we were willing to accept his booking, then we could split the payment between us.

I'll post what he wrote at the end of this letter, but I'm sure that many of you are seeing "flags" already. Certainly we were.

So, I sent it on to a lawyer friend of mine who specialises in fraud, and she said that she has seen this recently and that it is a new variation on an old type of scam. Here's how it works. First, since it's low season and you don't have anyone booked, then you figure that it is a good deal for you and agree. Next, the person confirms the booking. After that, the guest asks you to transfer him half of the money for the booking. And then once the transfer to him is made--you guessed it--the guest cancels, and you are screwed. 

So that's it. And again, some of you hosts may have seen something like this before. But as I said, it was new to us, and so we thought that we should share it so that other hosts can be aware of it if it happens to them. 

The message he sent is pasted below. We would love to hear your thoughts. (Oh, and if anyone knows how we can report this to Airbnb, then please let us know.)

Rich & Yan

Greetings! I am Alexander. Soon I'm having a business trip to Portugal. I was looking through Airbnb to find some apartments there and would like to book your apartment. But there is one moment that I would like to share with you. I have a plan to stay at my friend's home once I'm there and not to check into your apartment at all. Here's my proporsal. Book your apartment, never move into it and just share the rental fee my employer is going to pay as a part of my business trip expenses. You can just have some money for doing nothing. If you are interested, please get back to me soon. Text me in whattsap. This is my numbra pluus oonnnee ssevven thrre ttwwwo thhrree ssiixx zzeroo siixx niinee ninne ffiifee. Waiting for an answer.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Jan8716 Yeah, it doesn't look these scam attempts are going to stop coming anytime soon. Looking at yours, I can see that they are now altering some of the spellings from their earlier booking attempts ("I was tthkinking tto book yourr...") which, if I were to guess, would be to try to fool Airbnb's fraud detection services.

I would urge you not only to report this to Airbnb (there's an option to do next to the user's profile) but also to send a short email to them. Just the other day, we had another fake booking from a user who had sent us a message in Chinese (my wife speaks Mandarin and Cantonese) asking us if we wanted "to do business" with him and letting us know that if so, then we should contact him outside of the site.

Well, we sent a short reply saying, "No thanks" so that the Airbnb algorithm wouldn't flag us for not replying to a guest's request. Then, we immediately reported him AND THEN we followed this up with a short email to Airbnb explaining the situation. And their agent was great: responded quickly, took the matter seriously, and had the user removed from the site within 48 hours.

So yes, thanks for letting us know. We all appreciate it. But if you could take 5 or 10 minutes to go the next step and report the user as I explained above, then you would be doing all of the hosts a great service.

Cheers.

[June215]

Im from Vietnam and my properties in Vietnam. The scammer initiate the conversation via Airbnb in Vietnamese. Used the name Alex. The whatsapp number they used is*sensitive information hidden* . Im chatting to that scammer to see if they will give me the Western Union info finally =)). 

[Melodie-And-John0]

hi @June215 ,I had someone (first time Airbnb ) try to get me to take a conversation to the Whatsapp yesterday to discuss costs on a possible longer term booking.   Im not all that old but I wasnt born yesterday!!!!

"Hi, I am interested in long term reservations, from 2,5 weeks. I would like to discuss some details of convenience. Please write me on my Woutsap
*sensitive information hidden*

Im reluctant to do that and told him our discussion would have to remain on the Airbnb App and asked a few of questions to him about his Inquiry.  All I heard back was silence!    Thats Ok, I want bookings but not that bad, stay well, JR

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Melodie-And-John0 I would say your instincts were spot on. The moment that someone wants to do business with you outside of Airbnb, that should always be a flag.

As I was just saying to @June215, there are tons of messages in the previous pages from hosts explaining the various ways that scammers have attempted to scam them. I've learned a lot from reading these posts and would highly recommend that every host do the same.

Thanks for your input.

[Melodie-And-John0]

@Rich-and-Yan0 ,  After they book, Im all good with however they want to chat but not until.     It is a bit sad that we have to read inquiries and requests with an FBI eye for cons but we do.   My spider senses have become much sharper with the goal of learning from others mistakes before I have to experience them myself.  That said, I dont mind sharing the ones Ive boned in case they can help prevent another host from the same bad experience.  I never did hear back from that inquiry after I sent my "keep it real" message, Im good with that.   

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@June215 Okay, but be careful when you're chatting with this person outside of the Airbnb site, because if anything happens to you, then you will be protected here. 

Also, even if they give you their Western Union number and appear to be making a payment, don't fall for it, because it's not real. If you read up through the responses to my original post, you will see all of the ways in which other hosts have outlined how these people try to scam you. 

We have a saying in English: "If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is." So, please be careful.

[Jasmina15]

I just got one of these:

Hello! How aree you? I am Zofia, very nice to meet you. Yourr house is absolutely perfect ffor mee to rent during thiss upcoming business trip.. But there is a small question tthat I'd like to discuss first. I am planning to stay at myyy friends apartmentt, butt myy company fully covers the Airbnb accommodation. So whattt if I still book your place on behalf of my company and don't actually stay. Then, we can both share the mooney from the reservation, soo we both profit from nothing. Find me in whattsap for any questions! My number is plus four eeight six niine three two fiive three five ninee fivee 

I am about to report as scam - what amused me greatly is that I am in NYC - people are not coming to NYC right now on business trips or even vacations. When I saw a message I assumed it was another cancellation. I have not had a guest since March (since the city closed up for business) and I never had more than 2 unbooked days for years. Anyway - I assumed this was a scam but I figured I would search to see if it's new. I am not sure how they go about it since they have to pay Airbnb and I may try to chat just to see what they want. I am guessing they book - ask for money than cancel because how else since they have to pay Airbnb at booking. Part of me wants to just accept and refuse to send money (scam the scammer). 

[Sarah977]

@Jasmina15  What they apparently do is pay with a stolen or invalid credit card. Then they ask you to refund half the money off-platform, and then, of course, their credit card payment doesn't go through. 

I wouldn't waste time chatting with them-just report them and forget about it. If you want to, you could always reply " Do you really think hosts aren't onto this scam? You're a criminal and have been reported."

They just keep making new accounts, and I think those messages are just computer bot generated and sent to hundreds of hosts.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Jasmina15 What @Sarah977 said is correct. One way they do this is to use stolen credit cards, or so I've been told. You send your half of the money. I've also read, in the responses above, of fake guests issuing cashiers cheques to Airbnb that end up not clearing, or transferring money into a Paypal account that disappears once you have transferred your half to them. Whatever the case, you get bilked out of your half and end up with nothing from them. 

In another twist, one host in the above threads pointed out how Russian gangs are using this technique to launder money. So, in that case, you might actually get paid, but you'd be doing so in illegally gained funds.

Regardless of how you slice it, though, it's going to be bad news when someone wants to do business outside of the site. Your instincts were absolutely right about why someone would possibly want to book in NYC when the city and state are pretty much closed down. Way to stay vigilant, and thanks for sharing with the rest of us.

[Jasmina15]

Thank you @Sarah977 and @Rich-and-Yan0 I basically replied that I do not communicate outside Airbnb app and they are welcome to book via regular channels. I did this so I don't get slapped with no reply penalty. After that I reported them to Airbnb as a scam. 

It was very helpful to see my concerns confirmed here. I would not have done it anyway because I don't want to tangle myself in illegal business. 

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Jasmina15 Yes, that's absolutely the right way to go. I'm really glad that I started this post, because I was just doing it with the idea that I might be giving fellow hosts the heads-up on what, at the time, seemed to be a new scam. I had no idea that there would be so many responses from other hosts who have talked about this scam attempt and others. 

So yes, this is one thing I love about the hosting community. We can all learn something from each other, can't we?

[Clarissa73]

@Rich-and-Yan0 .thanks for the posting this as this happen to me recently.

I have got a message from a future guest saying he really liked my place to stay at and was sent from an organisation and looking forward to the trip (despite of the Covid situation).
He's provided whats app numbers by wordings and asked me if he can be contacted with the given number.

As a host I have to reply him because I have never encountered this before, my message to him thru what's app was 'I can answer all your queries'.

The next day, Airbnb sent me a security notice saying " we're reaching out because you were recently in contact with an account that was removed for violating the Airbnb Terms of Service."

4days after, he answered back making a proposal to split the payment onced he booked our place (80% to him and 20% to me of the total amount with the assurance there is actually no guests to turn up as he's already got a place and his organisation will pay the bookings.)

when I read this, I knew already that this is some kind of fraud, and I understood why Airbnb reached out to me. I hope this helps and makes all hosts aware of potential frauds.

[Sarah977]

@Clarissa73  There is no reason whatsover why you should call a guest back on Whatsapp simply because they asked you to. All you have to do is message back on the platform. "I only communicate with guests through the Airbnb messaging". Then you report their account.

Never engage with guests outside the platform when they are supposedly trying to book. The scammers will not be heard from again when you refuse to call them. 

[Clarissa73]

@Sarah977  I agree that I should not have messaged him on what's app, but as I've never encountered this before, I thought this was a genuine guest. I'm just glad that Airbnb reached out to me and removed their account. I knew straight away from the guy's response that he was trying to scam me and so I blocked his number.

[Rich-and-Yan0]

@Clarissa73 Wow, 80% for them and 20% for you? They really are getting greedy, lol.

Once again, I am going to back what my fellow host @Sarah977 said: you really do need to be careful never to do any business outside of the site. You were wise enough to catch on once you got his message, which is good. Just keep your eyes out in future, because if someone wants to do private business with you, then it will almost certainly turn out bad for you.

In a slightly related note, we recently had a guest stay with us, our first one in nearly four months. He was clean, friendly and communicative, and he left us a good review. Then last week, he asked about booking again in September and wanted to know if we could do it off of the site, so that he could save on the fees paid to Airbnb. We said no thanks, we'd prefer to do everything on the site as it protects both the host and the guest, and we instead offered him a special rate.

We don't think he was trying to scam us; he really doesn't seem like the type. We just thought that it made perfect sense to do business only on Airbnb, in case there were ever any problems.

Thanks for posting, and glad to hear that you didn't get "burned."