Suspicious guest keeps requesting money

[Anthony608]

I had a situation recently where a suspicious account booked then cancelled one of my rooms, but was not issued a refund since this was a same day booking and we had already sent out a housekeeper.  Per our cancellation policy, the amount was not refunded.  The account (I think) might have been someone local trying to scope out the house or get the address for some unknown reason.

That beside the point, AirBNB denied the refund as well, and now the guest is repeatedly sending requests for money through the resolution center; so far they have done it twice, each time saying I owe them money because they didn't know where the house was when they booked and it was too far away from where they needed to be. 

I am VERY suspicious of this account and think this may be a scam.  Airbnb clearly shows the general location of properties before a person books, but the guest said the listing "didnt have GPS data".  On top of this, the guest claimed this was an emergency yet after the fact he has no reviews from anyone else meaning he most likely did not find an alternate listing on the day he cancelled, even though he "needed the room right away".  This is very reminiscent of an ongoing scam in my area where new accounts are sending pre-approval requests, trying to find out addresses of AirBNB homes in my area, then cancelling the booking and targeting the properties for burglary or worse. I have had three previous cases where someone has tried to do this, the last of which just a few days ago.

If this account keep sending repeated requests for money, one after the other, can anything be done to stop this?  I'm also wary of someone in AirBNB support, who doesn't know what they are doing, thinking this is a legitimate refund.  So far, two support people have been involved.  The first simply said nothing could be done, but the second one saw this was a suspicious account and closed the support case asking for a refund.  The guest then sent another one a few hours later.  Any thoughts on what to do now?

[Colleen253]

@Anthony608  You can try blocking this person. And re think allowing last minute bookings. They tend to be more problematic for many reasons. Then you can also enable the setting that hides the listing address during the free cancellation period.

" I'm also wary of someone in AirBNB support, who doesn't know what they are doing, thinking this is a legitimate refund.  So far, two support people have been involved."

That's a legitimate concern. Always involve Airbnb CS as little as possible.

[Helen3]

I agree with @Colleen253 

1. Ask Airbnb to block the guest from contacting you

2. Set your listing so you don't accept same day bookings (what type of guests are you likely to attract who travel  at the last minute during Covid?) @Anthony608 

[Anthony608]

@Colleen253& @Helen3 - The guest in question tried three times to get money over the resolution center.  I denied all three of them and AirBNB sent two messages asking me for details, which I provided.  One AirBNB reply was simply "We have closed your case" and the other was a more personalized message saying they agreed with me that the account was suspicious and apologized for the inconvenience.

Nothing more has come of this but it amazes me this account is still active.  AirBNB apparently didn't remove or suspend it although they themselves admitted the account looked suspicious and was probably fraudulent

https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/293531978

[Helen3]

Presumably you reported the profile and left an honest review about your experience? @Anthony608  

[Anthony608]

@Helen3- I reported him but, as he never actually came to the property (the booking was cancelled almost immediately after being made), I did not leave a review.  Thankfully neither did he, since that would have involved a customer service complaint to AirBNB again - i.e. guest leaving a review who did not actually stay on the property. 

I am now certain this was some type of an attempt to find out the address of my home  and perhaps also to try and get a "double refund", requesting money from me while at the same contacting AirBNB for a refund.  Looking at the account, with no reviews (even after contacting me for an "emergency", yet apparently staying with no one else either) the account might have been set up solely for this purpose.

To add paranoia to the mix, about a week after all this happened there was a suspicious car in my neighborhood driving back and forth in front of my house around 10-11 at night.  The driver, honestly, looked a heck of a lot like the person in the profile pic.  I did not report this to anyone, but a few of the neighbors called the police as this car was very much out of place and the driver was seen sitting in front of random houses (mine included) late at night apparently taking notes and checking to see if people were home.  I'm not saying it was the same person I was dealing with, just the timing seemed too much of a coincidence.