Spam inquiry with cryptic WhatsApp Number?

Alexander706
Level 1
Dresden, Germany

Spam inquiry with cryptic WhatsApp Number?

My Mother, hosting on AirBnB, got a cryptic inquiry yesterday and I tend to decline this offer.

 

Hello! How are you?:) I really liked your apartment, I would like to stay with you happily, but since I go on a business trip and my Firm pays for the whole trip, I have a few personal questions. Write me in Whats a PP, please Pl us 18 z ero. s eve n 69 fo ur o ne. 99 f our. Eig. ht. Best wishes Mark

 

This is the original message, except that I have changed the actual numbers in the text (to protect the guest's phone, if this is not a spam).

 

Anyone experienced this before?

 

Many thanks for advice!

13 Replies 13
Elena87
Level 10
СПБ, Russia

@Alexander706 

 

Scam attempt governor.

 

Will offer you an off-site inflated $x amount to stay providing you give them a juicy kick-back of $y.

They might not stay anyway, they will say, because they are staying with a friend.

Money for nothing opportunity!

 

They will try to get the $y in cash upfront or asap - but the $x you won't ever see ( bouncing cheque, dodgy card, unfortunate story etc)

 

Why use 'What s app' when there is a perfectly good airbnb message system.

Anyway, if someone wants to fiddle their expenses, why would you want to do business with them.

 

Avoid.

 

 

 

Helen3
Level 10
Bristol, United Kingdom

Hello @Alexander706 

 

If this is a genuine inquiry, I would suggest to the guest that he gets his company to sign up to Airbnb for work.

 

https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/article/1108/how-do-i-sign-up-my-company-to-airbnb-for-work

 

Your mother can also confirm to the guest that it is against Airbnb's T&Cs for hosts and guests to communicate outside of the platform until a booking is confirmed and that any discussions  or clarifications can take place on the platform.

Alexander706
Level 1
Dresden, Germany

Many thanks Elena and helen, I had the same feeling this is some kind of scam to surround some guidelines. I'll forward this, we will reply that we won't communicate outside AirBnB and see if he responds.

 

All the best,

Alex

Branka-and-Silvia0
Level 10
Zagreb, Croatia

@Alexander706 

It's an old and well-known scam, @Elena87  explained how it goes

Avoid

Sarah977
Level 10
Sayulita, Mexico

"but since I go on a business trip and my Firm pays for the whole trip, I have a few personal questions."

 

This doesn't even make any sense. Its a total non-sequitur.

Jozef21
Level 1
Bratislava, Slovakia

Hi, 

I go three of the same messages few weeks ago, exactly as Alexander reported. I declined their requests and reported the users (all joined AirBnB only lately, no info, no ID, no photo, etc.). I have a question - can this spam somehow affect your listing? I got suspicious after a while, because before those messages, I got one reservation after another, it is a summer season in my city, i is full of tourists and usually the places are always full. Suddenly, after those messages, I haven't got any reservation in weeks. Maybe its something else, I have no idea, but it got me thinking, if this can be an issue too.

Thank you for any info, or remark.

Jozef

Corina26
Level 1
Berlin, Germany

I recently got 2 identical messages from 2 different people (at least the name) for my 2 proprieties.  They all claim they have private or important questions, they want to discuss over WhatsApp. I reported both users, but did not reject their inquiry as that does lower your "Accepted reservations % ". Maybe that is the point of this scam besides getting your phone number.

Piotr48
Level 10
Wrocław, Poland

So frustrating ABB isn't doing anything to prevent these spam messages. I get them way too often.

Iain120
Level 1
Hejls, DK

I just got my first one of these. Same message structure, links back to what appears to be a Czech Rep phone number. I'm reporting it. The message content alone was just not right.

 

 

Susan17
Level 10
Dublin, Ireland

It's a money-laundering scam. 

 

Inside Airbnb's Russian Money Laundering Problem

https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-airbnbs-russian-money-laundering-problem

 

How Criminals Use Airbnb To Launder Money Stolen From Your Credit Card

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/07/how-criminals-use-airbnb-uber-launder-stolen-credit-card-money.html

Alastair0
Level 9
Chiang Mai, Thailand

We have had so many of these Spam reservation requests these last few weeks and with an empty calendar, every alert we get lifts your hopes of a booking.

I (wrongly) bit back and responded to one today, with a rather impolite phrase.  We always report  to AIRBNB spam messages and we always decline, but I wonder if the fact that we decline so many requests, wether or not this works against us in the search engine algorithm. Does anybody know?

 

 

Hosting for 12 years Superhost for most of that time and have grown each year.
Mike-And-Jane0
Level 10
England, United Kingdom

@Alastair0 Please do correct me but these messages usually come with a booking enquiry rather than a booking request. There is no benefit or need  to decline an enquiry 

Meri15
Level 2
Crikvenica, Croatia

We get them regularly. I like to send them special offers 🙂