Extended stay scam

[Vincent1070]

Be aware of long term inquiries typically will be for the max booking timeframe. In my case 6 months. I constantly get message inquiries for 6 months always with just a short hello message or can I stay longer inquiry. It’s easy to get excited when you see a 20-30K booking but this is almost always a scam. Almost always a Chinese name with no verification. They will attempt to get owner information. I get these frequently and always flag. I wish AirBnb had a better system for preventing these messages. I’m sure people fall for it or they wouldn’t keep trying. 

[Sybe]

@Vincent1070 Thank you so much for sharing this!

[Antya2]

Yes, I've had a few lately and did not fall for any of them.

Everyone should be aware of these con artists and AirBnB should be proactive in terms of preventing these 'enquiries'. 

[Ricardo85]

@Vincent1070 

Could you describe what is the scam? Get owner information?

Ricardo

[Lucy845]

I am a new host to Airbnb, offering an upscale townhouse for long-term rental. Almost immediately I received an inquiry from a Chinese gentleman who wanted to book my place for a long-term period.  However, he did not want to use the platform, only WhatsApp to communicate.  Also, he wanted to pay in cash, professing that he made his money in cryptocurrency. It took me a few days to realize that he is a scammer.  Not sure what he is scamming, however.   Can someone explain what's going on.  BTW, I did contact Airbnb, who removed him from the platform. Scary.

[Carol5745]

I have been getting them, too.  The latest variation was a request for a video call tour of my house.  That is also a type of communication outside of Airbnb.  I am mystified as to why they keep trying it, but they must be getting some kind of reward for their persistence.

[Emily2344]

I had a similar experience as well! 

A Chinese man messaged me through Air B&B message, and then asked for a quick video of the place. Then he asked to send it over Whatsapp. 

Another chinese man requested a long stay, and requested to chat on a different platform, which was also through Whatsapp as well. It was worth $20K worth of stay. 

I have reported this through Air B&B. 

[I26]

I have scam from Airbnb. They tried to stay longer and stopped paying rent. Now we have to do Evition. They stop paying 3 months already and we have to use lawyer to evict them.

[Zheng49]

It is for this reason, we only accept stays up to 25 days max. Past that they need to send a request, and we have denied them all so far.

The risk of squatting is real, and eviction is too much of a pain in my City.