Do not fall for this booking scam. Decline and report account immediately.

[Guy731]

We just got the below 14 day booking and message:

”We would like to book your accomodation through the airbnb but we will not check in. A person is paid for accomodation, but he will live in another place. You will take 35% of the payment to yourself and send me 65% after recieving money. Telegram @Alanstory“

I declined and reported the account immediately.

Thanks

best regards 

Guy Pucill

[Robin4]

@Guy731 

This is an old one Guy, been around for years!

They book, and pay, for a $2,000 reservation which they tell you in fact won't actually take place, ask you to forward to them 35% of your future payout (off platform of course) and as soon as you do, they cancel and get a full refund.....plus your 35% ......sucked in mate!!!!

I think we are all well aware of this one Guy....but thanks for bringing it up again for the newbies!

Cheers......Rob

[Guy731]

First time for us after 5 years of hosting in Denmark.

The joy of a new booking turns to suspicion that turns to annoyance.

I suppose it is all part of the hosting game 😳😅

I hope this does not become a trend.

Best

Guy

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Guy731 There is no need to decline inquiries - It will hit your stats if you do. Best to just reply with a ' and then report the fraudulent guest.

[Guy731]

Thank for the tip, but too late 😳. I wonder if we can “un-decline”? Hmm. probably only by asking the guest to redo the booking request. Not doing that. Oh well. I have learned my lesson.

[Robin4]

@Guy731 

I have declined quite a few over the years but it has never affected my stats......

Nowhere in my stats does it say I have declined X number of guests!

Guy, not all suspicious guests are going to be fraudulent.....but that doesn't mean they are all going to be great guests!

If you feel uncomfortable about an enquiry, decline it. It is your property that is at risk, not Airbnb's!

Cheers.........Rob  

[Sandra856]

Hi @Robin4 🙂

Not to confuse @Guy731 but I think what is talked about here is the "acceptance rate" and it used to be  under the "basic requirements". Not the "superhost requirements" as you show here. As far as I remember we need to have an acceptance rate of 88% and up. I got below a couple of years ago and got those stupid warning signs showing up on my dashboard. So it is definitely a thing. You host a lot so you can easily "afford" to decline a couple of requests but someone who doesn't host much or doesn't get a lot of requests are more vulernable and will get below the 88% faster. 

[Sarah977]

@Guy731  No, unfortunately you can't undecline 😞.  When you say "redo the booking request", to be clear, it is Inquiries which Mike and Jane were referring to. For an Inquiry, all you need to do is message back within 24 hours. No need to Pre-approve or Decline. In the case of a scammer, the message could be "No" or "Stop scamming" or just some letter or symbol. 

These scams normally come in the form of an Inquiry, rather than a Booking Request.

But a Booking Request, you do have to either accept or Decline within 24 hours.

[Danielle476]

Not true.  

Declining inquiries does nothing - you need to respond to them within 24 hours, however.  (You're correct that it's easiest to just reply and not decline or approve though.)

Declining requests affects your ratings, and your visibility in the search function.

[Sarah977]

@Danielle476  Declining Inquiries affects the acceptance rate, just like declining Requests does, I'm pretty sure.

[Danielle476]

@Sarah977 Nope!  Inquiries can be declined without penalty, they just don't want you knowing that so you accept more reservations.  

[Ute42]

.

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[Fred13]

I answer those that look suspicious with a . (dot), in his way IF they are legit, they will come back and say the message got cut off, only included a dot.

[Shaun69]

And all this time I thought you were sending morse code Fred!

[Pete69]

The old advance fee scam.