Possible new scam for London Hosts

[Rahul43]

Hi all

Fairly new to hosting on Airbnb and have had some good guests but lately I have had two very strange bookings and I could really use some insight or even an explanation to what I assume to be a scam. 

The other day I had a guest come over to stay for two nights, his profile pic didn’t match and when I greeted him by his name there was a slight hesitation to his responsiveness when I called him by his name. He said he’s from Portsmouth but managed to get to London within 90 minutes (it later transpired that he was in fact in London already and was staying with his friend who he brought along), he said he was up in London to visit said friend and do some work but he didnt bring clothes. None of what he said to me made any sense so I investigated further and could not find him on any social media or on google. I reverse image searched him and that came up with nothing and added his number on my phone to check his WhatsApp and he has no WhatsApp. For a 26 year old to have no social media accounts is weird. He didn’t sleep at mine the first night and didn’t turn up the whole of the second day until midnight when he couldn’t get access to the building as he stupidly tried accessing another building in the development. I wasn’t in to let him in so he must have slept with his friend. I called Airbnb and expressed my concerns and they asked for the locks to be changed. The guest trashed my room and I have now gone ahead with the resolution centre. 

Today I have another guest staying with me. His profile said he’s from London but he told me later that he’s actually from Manchester but like the other guest he asked for directions from Waterloo even though Manchester trains terminate at Euston not Waterloo. Like the other guest he too asked, word for word, what he should be doing when he arrives outside my building. Like the other guest he was in the room for 30 minutes before leaving for the night and did not return. 

Am I being paranoid or am I being scammed and not know if it ? I have heard of stories where people use Airbnb and clone keys to come back at a later date and then steal stuff or clone keys and sell them to criminal people with the addresss and they come and steal later. 

It could be a weird coincidence that they both are travelling from Waterloo despite none of their trains terminating there and I’m just panicking for no reason. 

Thanks

R

[Sarah977]

@Rahul43   It does sound really weird, especially since the second guest did the same thing as the first-maybe they are in cahoots somehow? It also is troubling that airbnb told you to change the locks- do they know something about this guest that they're not disclosing? 

As for the first guest, I would never let someone into my listing who was obviously not the booking party. 3rd party bookings, unless booked through a business account, are a clear violation of airbnb policy and you can turn that guest away (call Airbnb to let them know why you are doing it). Nor are you covered by airbnb if the guest who trashes your place is not accompanied by the booking guest and is not the guest who booked.

[Pete69]

Stories like this are why I require verification with govbernment ID, phone, email and selfie pic. I don't want Maksym and Denys Pashanin to check in to my place.

[Rachel0]

Hi @Rahul43, have you ticked the box that requires government ID from the guest before they are allowed to book? If not, it would be a good idea to do so.  It does sound very suspicious that two, supposedly unlinked, guests should behave so similarly.  Please make sure that you leave scathing reviews about both of them.   

[Rahul43]

Thanks everyone for your replies :). 

@Pete69 I have the goverment ID check for all my reservations now. I didn’t before because when you host for the first time Airbnb encourages you to be less restrictive so that you get the bookings in. 

@Sarah977 I should have turned them away but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be accused of being discriminatory but now I insist on seeing ID before letting someone in. 

@Rachel0 I am currently asking Airbnb to remove his review considering how he never stayed the two nights and damaged property. If I leave a review now it’ll show his review on my profile and as I’m new I really want to avoid any negative reviews especially when they are unfounded. 

One thing i would mention that (you guys probably know this) Airbnb do nothing to help you if you are concerned in the slightest for your safety. I called them several times, the more I realised the person who booked wasn’t who he said he was. They said I should confront the guest and get my keys and kick them out, even though I told them that he hasn’t showed up at all after checking in, I can’t exactly confront him.

They emphasised that when I confront him I should not discrimate but this was never about race but about a total stranger coming into my home and lying about everything. It seemed that they were more concerned with the upset feelings of this fraudster than my own safety. I had to hide the knives and sharp utensils and even had to set up 999 emergency by text as that was how uncomfortable I was and Airbnb did absolutely nothing to help. They said that the only time they can help is if something happens to me and or my property and then they “may” look into compensating me but that this was no guarantee.

[Sarah977]

@Rahul43  Oh yeah, "confront the guest" they tell you, while sitting at their desks sipping a latte. Did they ask whether the guy is maybe 6'2" and a 250 pound gym rat with bulging muscles, prison tats, and an attitude to match? I doubt it. He's a "guest"- on a par with some kind of god. I've never had a problem with any guest, but if I did- I'm a 5'4" 100 lb. 68 year old female and if they told me to "confront" a guest, I'd make that known all over public media. It's a dangerous, irresponsible and disgusting response.

[Rahul43]

I completely agree, asking me to confront a guest when that guest could get aggressive is ridiculous. There needs to be more done to protect hosts and I think it’s long overdue that they have an UBER style safety overhaul. I’ll be speaking to my local MP to try and get them to pursue this. 

[Jarg0]

Sorry Rahul, but you must protec yourself. ABB does Booking and collect the money.

Read the 8 Rules and follow them. (Not from me, from a member in forum, only copy/paste)

Firstly, remove instant booking, it’s not a hotel... it’s your home!
    Only accept guests that have positive reviews with Airbnb, and have already used the service at least 5 times
    Only accept guests that are registered with ID
    Take a deposit (cover associated costs)
    Strict cancelation (removes undecided bookers)
    Don’t accept party goers or people of very young ages
    Increase your price by a little (remove backpackers)
    Be very careful who you accept, use Google and previous experiences to make a judgment.

[Sarah977]

@Rahul43  Airbnb also "encourages" hosts to use Instant Book, price their listings at absurd rates and all kinds of other stuff that is not necessarily to our benefit. Their bottom line is raking in their booking fees, not protecting anyone. As hosts, we need to do what we feel works best for us, not be swayed by what they try to convince us is best.

[Jarg0]

A: Hello B. i will put the dope under the bed in Rahuls airbnb room

B: AirBnb room? How i can come in?

A: Do an Account at Airbnb, its easy and nobody knows

B: Ok, I do an account, and then?

A: Do a booking at Rahuls. The dope is under the bed. Then leave fast.

B: Ok nice, you will get the money later by western union

A: And dont forget to copy the door keys for later exchanges

B: All right, thats will be fun and is so easy

[Sarah977]

@Jarg0  Wow, I think you might have nailed it. Sounds really plausible. You must do this a lot (Just kidding).

[Alex939]

@Rahul43, very sorry for such a bad experience. I haven't ticked the box that requires government ID from the guest before they are allowed to book, but I meet them at the check-in personally and I copy their ID/passport cause it's requirement of local  authorities. No problem so far.