I Got This Message From Potential Booking Inquiry Potential Scam?

[Walter587]

The message content is in quotes.

"My fiancé is here for business. We love your place and will soon be joining him with our daughter and family, but we have a few questions."

:Is there laundry in the home? On the pictures, I can't see it."

"Are roads OK to travel in night?"

"Please provide me your phone number in the following format: $$404$$865$$1471, and I'll call you to talk."

I suspect this is a scam, but I am not sure.  Asking for a phone number in an unusual format is weird.  Can anyone comment?

**[Phone number hidden due to safety reasons - Community Center Guidelines]

[Basha0]

do not give your phone number. Only communicate on the platform until they are actually booked 

[Helen744]

Walter587, do not give them your phone number in that format and clarify who is actually booking and who it is for , how many people , etcetera. makes no sense currently . if her 'fiancee is 'there' then whats his name because you do not seem to have a booking from him and the bookee can communicate not the so called bookees so called fiancee and love child and her other kids and his mothers fathers goat. ?   Dont hold your breathe ...... H

[Clara116]

 @Walter587   sounds like a scam and ANYONE asking for you to call esp. with a code of letters or numbers is doing something WRONG. Even through Airbnb they know you have can't send phone numbers - as that is against TOS terms of service. Everything on platform, that means on the Airbnb app. When they suggest you do otherwise. Drop them and flag them and stop communication. If they are persistent contact Airbnb.

Seems to me these last years since covid - communication has become much more strange, difficult and confusing. Seems people struggle to say what they mean to say. 

Here's how I read their message until they asked you to call with the bizarre phone thing!

The husband is working in your town and the family is joining him soon and want to stay in your place and want to check a few things....that's kinda the underlying message, BUT then its clear if that were real, people don't want to pay service fees/taxes and will try anything to book off platform. Booking off platform is against all policies, TOS - and it is stealing from Airbnb. And if you or any of us do it we should be shut down. Airbnb is how these folks see our places and how can anyone feel it is OK to just cut them out when they put our listing out there for everyone to see. 

So I'd call it a scam and have no part in dealing with these kind of people. 

Glad you asked so others can also learn.

Happy Hosting, Clara@116

[Clara116]

@Walter587  one more thing.....the message is from someone from another country. Read out loud exactly what they write.....all the words omitted are 100% a mistake people from other countries make. Don't fill in the words they leave out....Read it OUTLOUD! Its a dead giveaway as is said.

[Pat271]

@Walter587  LOL - I got the exact same message this morning!

I was pretty sure it was a scam, but decided to answer anyway, you never know.

What tipped me off was that my laundry center is clearly visible in one of my photos. Even if it isn’t a scam, I’m not sure about hosting someone with such poor investigative skills. 🙂

I pointed out the photo, said the roads were fine, and thanked them for their inquiry. 30 seconds of my time, I figure.

I think since I didn’t leave the requested number, they won’t be messaging me further, although I do hear of cases where scammers keep asking questions after the first go-around. I will block the scammer if I’m contacted again.

[Corey245]

We just got this same exact (word for word) inquiry from VRBO for our cabin in Blue Ridge. The formatting of the phone number is obviously for machine reading. Smells like a scam to me

[Bhumika]

Hi @Corey245 @Pat271 @Walter587 ,

Did you eventually take in the request? How did that booking request go?

Asking for a phone number like this truly sounds fishy!

As @Basha0 has correctly mentioned, it is important to keep yourself safe and keep all communication within Airbnb or related platforms.


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[Pat271]

@Bhumika , thanks for asking.

Nope, never heard back from this (alleged) guest. I am getting several similar requests, though. I answer their questions all positively for what they are asking, and then never hear from them again. 

I suppose these could be casual window shoppers, but I doubt it.

[Tal6487]

We just got the exact same request

[Paule-Et-Sylvain0]

He did the same with us on VRBO

[Helen3]

It's a scam don't waste your time. Report to Airbnb and move on 🙂 @Walter587 

[Jennifer3730]

Just got this message on the VrbO platform on our new listing. I did refuse to give my number but did reply yes we have laundry (duh there’s a picture). 

Glad y’all posted this when I googled the number. 

[Lee4698]

I have gotten that same request word for word on VRBO.  Every inquiry I have gotten on VRBO has been from a scammer.  I have my place listed on AirBNB and VRBO and so far nothing but scammers from VRBO. 

[Ashley1900]

Same. 100% of VRBO inquiries have been scammers. I newly listed my property, less than a month. 

I called VRBO and talked to a representative. I pointedly asked him how both of the obviously scam inquiries were from "verified" accounts? Turns out, the only thing they do to verify is match an email to a phone number. Both of those things can be created fraudulently (aka burner accounts). 

I asked him if VRBO would be investigating based on my complaints/reporting both separate scam inquiries. He said no. Just to mark both inquiries as spam, but no further action would be taken by VRBO. 

So as of today, having received my third scam inquiry, three out of three VRBO inquiries have been scammers. 

Zero legitimate inquiries from VRBO. 

Two legitimate inquiries from Airbnb, with one of them booking.