Scam

[Sally79]

Hey guys!
Last night I had two HUGE individual requests from different guests, both spanning over 4 months- amounting to an extremely large sum of money as you can imagine.
They both seem like ideal guests- each having been members for different amounts of time- each from different countries.
It just seems strange to get two book enquiries in one night for such large sums of money out of the blue.
Has anyone experienced a scam like this?

[Helen3]

Have they got fully verified profiles?

How long have they been a member?

Do they have reviews from other hosts?

What di they tell you about why they choose your property and plans for their stay,

You haven't really given us enough information to go on. But yes it could well be a scam. But you might have a property and an area that attracts those on long term stays.

[Sally79]

Thankyou.
They have all the right indicators that point to a solid guest, except the major one- reviews.
The only reason I see it as strange is because to get two requests in the span of a few hours seemed unusual to me- and I just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this last night/recently.

[David126]

Hacked accounts?

[Sally79]

That's perhaps what I thought- but then why would anyone want to create a false booking? Perhaps to tie up my property?

[David126]

As I mentioned in your other thread expect a request for a refund outside the system, following a reduction in period for example.

[Esther51]

Hi David,

I was wondering if you could help me with a situation that I am currently in.  I had a guest stay at my place for a month and wanted to extend for 3 more months.  I gave her a long term deal at a discounted rate and had to cancel a shorter term guest to accommodate her stay.  There was a 2 1/2 week  period of time where she stayed that Airbnb would not allow the dates to be booked since I had just canceled a booking (I'm new to hosting and didn't know that that was probably not the best way to go about it).  We then created a 2nd booking which accounted for the time that was not on Airbnb.  

About a week or two later she contacts me to say that I had rodents and wanted to move out but would give me 2 weeks notice ( she had agreed to the long term cancellation agreement).  I have lived in my home for 12 years and have never seen a rodent inside my home.

She had taken the conversation off of Airbnb and was texting me directly.  She had threatened to write a bad review and to report me to Airbnb if I did not comply to her wishes.  She went as far as to ask me to send her money before she canceled the reservation.

I have contacted Airbnb but they did not seem very helpful.  I'm not sure what to do.  I have done everything possible to remedy the situation.  I called an exterminator immediately after she contacted me to allay her worries.  I'm not sure if this is come kind of scam.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Esther 

[David126]

@Esther51

Do not reply to her texts

Message her through ABB and say that if she wishes to cancell then she needs to do so through the ABB system

Deal with the reviews as an when the issue arises.

[Deb29]

@Esther0

Be sure to save those texts. Perhaps take pictures of them so they don't get lost. They will prove critical later to prove to Airbnb that your guest was practicing extortion - trying to force you by saying you'd get a bad review otherwise.

That is certainly not allowed

Good luck!
Deb

[Andrea9]

@Sally79

Are they from your area? Maybe they simply need a home? Dig deeper, ask questions and make sure their stay would not automatically grant them tenancy rights. 

And generally, you might consider limiting the possible length of a stay.

[Kim123]

I had the same thing last night for a book of $12,000.  Ha.  It is definitley a scam. They wanted my address to "view" the property first.  Supposedly, they had a client who wanted a monthly lease, but they needed a $500 referral fee made payable to Landy & Associates. (One used the name Serena & the other Tausha) Here's what my people looked like: 

Hi Kim,

You would have to contact AirbBNB for how their payments sent out after the lease is signed. Please advise.

Tausha
Landy & Associates

Tausha(at)(url hidden)
A website address has been removed from this message.
Sharing contact details before an accepted reservation can put you at risk.

 I don't think either you or Tausha understand how AirBnB works. You view the property through the pictures. A host would NEVER give out their address. That would be plain stupid.

SERENA’S INQUIRY TODAY AT 12:08 PM

You have reported this message. Hide Message or Undo?
Hi Kim,

Tausha previously set up terms regarding property. Would like to provide property address for viewing to our clients, please advise if we can set up viewing.

Thank you

[Peter-And-Judy0]

Today I received an email from airbnb asking for confirmation of email address. The email address was one connected to our business that we do not use with airbnb and it was address to someone by the name of Richard. We do not know this person but it appears that he has stolen one of our email addresses and is trying to join airbnb. We already are hosts and have four houses listed. Does this mean the scammer could connect to our these houses and try and get bookings for them!! What should I do? I have tried to contact airbnb but I can't find a way of doing so. I have also contacted the email domain and reported it but I don't know that they would be able to do much. Can anyone help me?

[Michele199]

Hi I want to report a scam host?? Can someone help me? We booked online now the house has dissapeard????

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16051297?checkin=12%2F21%2F2016&checkout=12%2F28%2F2016&guests=7&adults...

[Andrew90]

I would contact Airbnb. They might have snoozed their listing or some other system glitch.

“Contact Airbnb: A Community Help Guide - Airbnb Community”

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[Kirstie]

Hi @Michele199,

It's possible that this isn't a scam but that the host has just snoozed their listing (taken it offline). This alone doesn't mean your booking is cancelled, just that the listing profile isn't public. Have a look at this Help Guide which explains this issue in more detail. If you are not able to contact the host to check the reservation is still ok, do contact Airbnb as @Andrew90 suggests.

Let us know how you get on!

Kirstie