Is this a Scam?

[Alexandra1530]

Hi fellow hosts.

So, after 3 months of silence,  I have been approached today by 2 potential guests. Both asking for a long winter rental. Both profiles have been created in 2022, but don’t have any reviews. One of these potential guests is a foreign individual. Second is renting for work… but the place of that work is more than 30 miles away from the house. 

If that was ONE inquiry, I would say it is legit, but 2? Any thoughts or has anyone had any similar experiences? 

[Mike-And-Jane0 · Accepted solution]

@Alexandra1530 we recently had a chap from India inquiring about our place. Over a couple of messages it became clear he was genuine but we were way to far from the University he was going to. 

In short they could be genuine or scammers but you won't know until you engage in discussion with them.

[Inna22]

I agree with @Mike-And-Jane0 . Too early to know. No harm in engaging with them. Please come back and update us as you get more information. Usually scammers will attempt to either give their phone number in a crypted format or get yours

[Huma0]

@Alexandra1530 

I agree that there is not enough information here to know if it is a scam or just a genuine enquiry. I quite often get people messaging me about booking when I am nowhere near the place they need to go for work or study. I think they are just hopeful. They couldn't find what they were looking for budget/quality wise close enough and just want to believe that my place is not so far!

[Trang111]

i am looking at the date and your "long winter stay" and how it lines up with a post i just made about 3 inquiries in the last 30 days.

All three individuals were based out of NYC

All three created their account less than 10 days before the inquiry

All three communicated in chinese (i accidentally discovered this when i found the "translate" button was "on"...when i turned it off their side of the conversation changed to chinese)

All three wanted extended stays from mid Dec through March

All three wanted to communicate outside of AirBnB platform (big red flag)

All three had unusual but not bizarre requests: two wanted videos of property sent to them, one wanted an in-person tour before they decide (as if they would fly from NYC to Seattle just for a 5 minute walk-thru)

1st one was 1st week of October...requested video tours. I created the vids and sent him the youtube URL where i posted them. A week later a message "limited message delivery" appeared and the profile was removed.

2nd one was two weeks later ... requested an in-person tour on Dec 20th. requested we communicate via WhatsApp. Later that day the message "limited message delivery" appeared and the profile was removed.

3rd one today...requested video tour...before i could provide links the message "limited message delivery" appeared and the profile was removed.

starting to think all three are same person...

I suspect all three were the same person / group of people

[Karen3489]

I recently received several similar requests exactly how you describe. The concerning part is that all were "verified" AirBnB accounts. 

[Deirdre2]

I have also received several similar requests. The first few were much like you describe- inquiring about a 3 month stay December-March, saying they need to see it in person, then sending whatap contact info.   Today, I received on for just a single month, they asked several questions first, claimed to be a medical equipment supplier.  Then, after a half dozen messages, said they were "too busy" to check airbnb for messages and prefered to text directly. 

I wonder if these are just new twists on the old overpayment scam?  Or is it some new scam altogether?