How does a trap like this happen? A lying guest gets full refund

[RainaandJelly0]

I have a guest who booked in Jan, and she contacted us saying she hoped to move the reservation to Dec. We were okay with it so we clicked "Agree" to her change request. 

And yesterday she contacted us again, proposing to change the reservation to Oct. We do have availability in Oct so again we agreed to the change request. BUT right after we agreed, she cancelled the whole reservation, and she got a full refund, automatically!

We have a 50% refund policy, and we were just so confused how she could get all her money back. Only after a long time contacting Airbnb support team and reading Airbnb's policies, we were to find that after she moved the check-in date to Oct, she qualified for the Covid-19 extenuating policy - reservation date before Mar 2020, and check-in date before Oct 2020. 

So we know she was just lying about wanting to change to Oct, only so that it could fit Airbnb's policy and she could get a full refund!

This is just such a malicious intent I have never imagined could happen, it is basically stealing money from us trusting hosts. And Airbnb support could only tell us they are "shocked too, and sorry" but could do nothing because the refund falls within their policy.

What should we  do?? Just let the liar guest get her way, and Airbnb could just sit and watch??

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@RainaandJelly0 remarkably there is an upside to this. Airbnb have been drip feeding extensions to the EC policy dates for corona virus and they would no doubt have got to December eventually. By the guest taking the action they have your December dates are now available to a guest who might actually want to stay with you. Had the guest not taken this action the dates would only have freed up 4-6 weeks prior to the booking leaving less chance of you filling them again.

I hope this makes you feel better!

[Sarah977]

@RainaandJelly0  This is a known scam perpetrated by savvy guests. They ask to alter the booking dates so they can cancel within the new allowed cancellation period and receive a refund, which they otherwise wouldn't be eligible for with the original dates.

So when you get these requests, don't agree to them unless you really feel they are aboveboard, or if the altered dates are far enough in the future that you can pretty much be assured of filling the cancelled dates with another booking.

[Emiel1]

@RainaandJelly0 

Something is not correct here at Airbnb.

A reservation which changes to other reservation dates , should be having a new booking date on it (the date of change). So in this case not booked before 14 march anymore, to prevent scammers to take advantage of the COVID extenuated circumstances cancellation policy.