Possible scam! Any help? How to report to Air BnB?

[Henrieta0]

Hi all, I am new to this and need some advice. In the past three days I have received four inquiries for a short notice rental of my apartment in Athens, Greece, all four from people who had just become Airbnb members in Aug-Sep, all asking for the same rental period of 1 month, starting immediately; one was self-identified from Turkey, and the other three seemed of similar background. All four were inquiring the place for a family of 4, (two adults and two children). Given that they were lacking most of the verifications, and were not providing any information about their trip, I declined the inquiries, and changed the verification requirements to include Gov't ID. I wanted to ask if this has happened to anyone else, and how you have dealt with it? Is a Gov't issued ID a safe enough method of verification? Thank you in advance!

[Marit-Anne0]

@Henrieta0

It is not a scam, anyone can send you a request even if they are not fully verified.  It is then up to you if you want to vet the guests yourself before accepting or simply decline.  Adding more requirements would increase the the risk of getting requests rather than stop them.

Here is the clue - you have instant book activated and those meeting your requirements can book immediately and will in almost all cases do so.  If you get requests, it is very likely from someone who do NOT meet your booking requirements.  

[Henrieta0]

I understand that anyone can send me a request even if not fully verified, all I am asking is: if this is normal to get 5 requests (the latest one today) in 4 days from 5 different people, all enrolled in airbnb in the past few weeks, with just email or phone number verification, no prior reviews, no last names, seemingly from the same region (Turkey), although their current location shows as Greece,  all being 2 adults and 2 children, and all asking for a discount or payment in cash. I gave a discount (through Airbnb) to the first one, together with pre-aprovement, and asked for a bit more information, and he responded by saying that he doesn't want the apartment (no other explanation). My apartment is in Athens, Greece and I wanted to find out if this is happening to any other hosts in the region.

Thank you in advance.

[Helen3]

Definitely sounds like a scam to me @Henrieta0

I would flag the profiles with Airbnb .

[Marit-Anne0]

@Henrieta0

Very few Greek hosts on the discussion board, so very hard to tell.

My hunch is that mulitiple accounts have been created to make requests.  Asking to pay outside of airbnb is against the airbnb terms and conditions, so if this is in your message on the platform, you can flag that message. There is a little flag icon in the top right hand corner of the message.

You can flag any profile the same way.

[Paula-and-Gill0]

I had a couple instant book and cancel in succession. I have smart pricing on, and each time, the price dropped. Finally, I blocked them. They then created a third profile and instant booked. I was new to AirBnB and when I spoke to customer service they advised me to cancel. I did and then AirBnB penalized me and blocked my calendar. I called back and complained, they acknowledge their error, but it took them over 72 hours to undo the mistake.

Thus, I never use instant book and I keep a close eye on AirBnB. Today, while writing a review, Instant book was on. I'm ready to lose my mind. What the hell AirBnB!

[Elena687]

Something similar happened to me last year. I got a reservation request from two different accounts within a couple of hours from eachother with the exact same text. Only the names were different. The first one didn't have a picture and had just created the account. I asked him to become verified and at least put a picture on. Only then, I told him, would I accept the request. He did put a picture on but it was of a bonsai tree, lol. That's when I noticed the second request from a new account with the exact same text. They too had some other tree in their picture. No faces. I must admit I got a bit scared. I immediately flagged both their profiles and declined their requests because they both seemed very fishy. I have no idea what their scam angle was and what they were trying to accomplish by it. I have instant booking on but only if they are airbnb verified, have provided a valid ID card and have recommendations from other hosts. Haven't met with any issue so far.

[Voula7]

Hi guys!

same thing happened to me too. 4 accounts in five days, all saying that they are from Turkey, with very obscure photos, all asking for a discount or a specific price on the monthly rate or wanting to pay cash. At fiirst, I pre approved the requests (with the original price) and told them that the apartment can be rented only via the platform procedure. But as they continued I declined and reported the profiles. Any thoughts?