Is there such a thing as "CATFISH" profiles/requests to book?

[Debra15]

So I live on an island and I had a request from a local here on the island to rent my room for a week.  The photo looked phoney - like something from the show CATFISH where it was a stock photo.  The verification was minor and new.  When I wrote back to ask some questions of the potential guest, their entire request just disappeared from my message board, etc.  

How does that happen?  Is that a hacker or something?

[Linda108]

Thank you for providing the link to the listing.  I find it very interesting that only one other review mentions that Shannon is a guy.  Good number of reviews some very positive, from both men and women, and some negative.  The only host review does reference "he" so I guess that host was not disturbed by the confusing profile picture.

Since this is an entire apartment and not a shared space like a private room, I gather other guests were not bothered and may have even thought the picture was of a wife or maybe he was a co-host.   Anyway, your post description belies the fact that most others are not disturbed, so since some profiles are pictures of kittens and sunflowers, it appears Air BNB is not taking action.  Perhaps you were the only one who called him on why a female picture.

[Nicole1188]

Yes, yes! I thought that was interesting as well--that for the most part, no one was using pronouns to talk about Shannon. It was always "Shannon's place is this or that." None of the reviews I read prior to booking used a male pronoun for Shannon.

And yes--I'm happy you brought up other people's profile pictures because I was thinking and seeing that even the profiles that have kittens and sunflowers as their image reveal their gender through their profile desciption. So while I might not see a picture of them, I can read through their description a bit more about who they are so that I know what to expect. And there you might even find that this person whose profile pic is a daisy is doing airbnb with his wife. Shannon's profile description only says "I care about my guest. People first." That's all. No pronouns. Nothing about him doing this with his wife. Nothing revealing about who he really is.

I imagine that people felt uncomfortable but just didnt report it. That happens a lot. Sometimes people arrive at an airbnb with travel companions, a husband or someone who is protective in nature, and so maybe they felt okay to stay there. I didnt. And, even though I rented the entire place, I knew that he had full access to the house and that made me feel even more unsafe. 

But yeah, hopefully airbnb does something, even if I was the only one to report it. 

[Monika433]

He's still got that woman's pic up as himself.  I was going to book an AirBnB for a trip but not now.  Hotel it will be!

[Sarah977]

@Monika433  Because one host is being deceitful you don't trust any of them? That seems a little extreme. If you read the reviews of a property, the guests often mention the host by name ad often say "he" or "she" and it's obvious if it matches the profile.

[Sarah977]

I wonder who the woman in the photo is.

[Nicole1188]

Me too! He said it was somene he knew. I dont believe him. It looks like a stock photo to me. I did a reverse image google search but nothing came up. 

[Lacy14]

I was catfished by a host, too! The host pretended to be a woman named Jess. Whenever it was time to check in, all of a sudden she said her husband had access to her app and would be checking me in. That was never mentioned before. It was creepy. I never met Jess, only her husband. I do not think Jess exists. I did not stay there and complained to Airbnb. They did not refund me and said that they do not discriminate. I disagree with calling it discrimination. I think it was a misrepresentation and dishonest. I would have been okay had the host been both of them or even if I would have been notified from the being. Airbnb's policies allow for this behavior. Beware!

[Ashley698]

Hi Lacy! Did you take this to Twitter, perhaps? I had an awful time getting my stay refunded back in June, and Twitter seemed to be the only solution.  My rental had fully flooded (I'm talking submerged) due to flooding in the Midwest, and was in that state for 4-5 weeks prior to my stay.  I had contacted my host repeatedly with zero response. I did eventually get a full refund from Air Bnb.