What are some known Guest Scams?

[Anthony608]

I have been hosting for two years now and have seen my share of shady and suspicious guests.  I am wondering what actual scams other hosts have seen committed by potential guests.

The most serious scam I ever saw was what I believed to be a key-copying scam.  A man in Boston booked my room, then on the first night of the reservation, an unknown woman came to the residence and was knocking on the door, apparently unaware that the door had a keycode entry. She did not have any of the check-in instructions and had only been sent on her phone a screenshot of the home’s address. Once in the residence, the woman began asking repeatedly to be given an actual key. After several minutes of explanations, she finally understood that there was no key but rather a keycode for the door which would expire at the end of the stay. This clearly upset her a bit and she became visible nervous. She then went outside and was on her cellphone for a minute before walking away towards the local bus stop. She did not return to the residence on the first night, but closed the door to the room and left the lights on as to give the appearance that someone was in the room. Upon checkout, the room was found to be undisturbed and it did not look like anyone had slept in the beds.

Another, more complicated scam, involved a guest who was trying to gather information about the property without actually booking.  Over the course of six months, I received  three pre-approval booking inquiries - they all said the same thing - mainly that a guest wanted to book the room for a large number of days, was "moving into an apartment" and needed the room right away. The first of these I agreed to, since I thought I had a good opportunity for a booking and there were no real warning signs. However, the pre-approvals would then expire, and then the guest began sending numerous messages through AirBNB asking for extensive details about the house. More messages followed, asking details about did I live alone in the house, who else would be there, and also they wanted the specific street address prior to booking so they could come and see the house before booking. When I explained this was against AirBNB policy, the messages suddenly stopped. Then, several weeks later - pre-approval request again, asking about the room, moving into an apartment, need it right away, etc, etc. An obvious script which was being repeated.

To a lesser degree, I have received numerous questionable messages about same day bookings.  Typically strange vague messages, speaking about emergencies and needing the room right away.  Of those I've approved,  20% of them never show up and of those that do about 30% don't stay the night.  Obviously something going on.

What scams have other hosts seen?

[Laila141]

We just established a new property in Niagara Falls and also experiencing repeat first time users that are “working in Niagara” seeking long term rentals. They ask a lot of questions but don’t book. They repeatedly ask questions that are clearly available on property details and description. They are all of Chinese descent so I also assumed it’s a language issue. All young. Names include Chris, Dave, Tiance. They are also sharing their contact in messaging and prefer WhatsApp or texting. I changed my profile picture for now as I felt super uncomfortable about them learning too much about me. I’ve reported them to Airbnb however, I do wish Airbnb had a checklist like they do with house rules so new guest understand the rules and consequences of not following them.

[Israel202]

Airbnb is more interested in making signups and the booking process as easy as possible for guests at the expense of hosts. There doesn’t seem to be any serious vetting process of people when getting on the platform. Then we as hosts end up with guests that have no respect for our homes, our house rules or the Herculean efforts we go through in owning and maintaining our properties.

Airbnb has to do better job in educating guests on the proper etiquette for being respectful guests.

I am very disappointed with the ease dishonest guests can exaggerate or falsify their experience in property in order to get discounted or free stays.

[Kfir4]

Thank you for this post, I just experienced what I think is the scam where the user will ask to rent property months in advance for an extended amount of time, then ask many questions, including to communicate on an external service. you just saved me a lot of pain, 

[Jason2346]

I think this is happening to me right now. 

[Mike3251]

This is happening to ME right now!   A potential renter with no history asking for multiple months, then asking me why she can’t see my responses in our Airbnb chat, asking me to use WhatsApp to text.   Very suspicious. 

[Fuensanta11]

It is happening to me as well! 

[Katherine993]

Hi there - I was a host about 10 years ago but gave it up because I wanted to rent out the room on a long-term tenancy basis, which I've been doing ever since. However, with Airbnb rentals (you can only legally offer them for up to 3 months in my country) the payout is higher, as it is with all short-term rentals.

I'm nervous about a particular emailer on Airbnb. No photo. From Canada, which is probably meant to reassure me as Canada is not generally a country regarded as risky for financial transactions. What is unsettling is how aggressive this emailer is about the booking, which is ostensibly for her daughter to attend university in Dublin. It would be from end August 2023 to just before Christmas. Herself and her husband sent me link requests on LinkedIn too, which I accepted but then blocked.

I don't get a good vibe from this person,  and she won't give up. However, I'm still trying to work out what the actual financial risk to myself would be. Guests pay Airbnb, who then release the cash to your chosen destination, so AFAIK this booker would have zero access to any of my bank details. So what other way could they scam me?

I've had tons of scammers on long-term rental sites in Dublin too - people coming from abroad who want to pay several months up front, especially for a car space I had for rent. Kept looking for my bank details. I said they could wait til they actually got to Dublin, I'd show them the car park space, and they could then pay in cash. They disappeared.

So if anyone has any insight as to how a 3-month booker on Airbnb, who won't stop messaging me (and there doesn't seem to be any way to block emailers on the site, which is very poor customer service by Airbnb), could scam me out of anything at all, when she has to pay through Airbnb and not direct to my bank, I'd be very grateful.

[Sharon1421]

I’m in USA so don’t know laws on Dublin, but in USA most states have laws that rentals over 30 days are *not* short term rentals and the Airbnb guest and just become landlord and tenants.  So the scam is once they are in your property, Airbnb only collects the first month, then the guest cancels the credit card and won’t ever pay again. Since it’s a long term rental  you would have to go to court to evict them and it usually tajes months to do that through the courts while you have someone staying for free and unable to make income. My max term in 21 days to ensure this never happens to me.  

[Helen744]

@Katherine993 I would say that you are safer of course , strange as it may seem if the renter is only taking up one room.If the parents are being aggressive this may be a sign of anxiety , but maybe remind them that third party bookings are not allowed and that their daughter will need to book and communicate for herself and they will be doing her a bigger favor this way as she will then be covered directly by Airbnb and any refunds will go to her bank account

[Dick19]

Recent Guest Scam.    Young man, first Airbnb experience he says.   Stayed there approx 2 weeks , calls on my home phone says we have a major problem that has to be dealt with.  He tells me I have bed bugs, sends 2 photos, I Freak out and refund his TOTAL amount that he had paid so far so he could find a new place asap, and i could look into the, so called, bug problem.  I took the photos to a the reputable Pest Service that has been in business for 50 years and protected our home for the last 40 years. That was Monday, set an appt for Wed, inspector looks at all linens, we stripped the bed down to the BED BUG protective cover and he said "I cannot find anything, no signs of any kind of bug what so ever. We looked at the photos again, next to my linens and I don't believe that is a picture of my linens. Mine are white, photo was on white linens. I inspected every inch of every piece of linen on the bed and cannot locate anything remotely like what he sent in the photo. AND he has left everything there. He had all day Monday and Tuesday, its Wednesday now and with a bug free review by the inspector i am ready to go in a make it ready for my next Guest. I think i have been tricked, he got all his money back and he mentioned he had a friend so i suspect they had decided to Bunk Up and came up with this scam to get his  money back. I called Airbnb, they said could possibly be a scam and NEXT time be sure to get it inspected B4 giving a refund. I am EXTREMELY happy, thankful, relieved that I am bug free but want to put a scam alert out to other Hosts. 

[Terrie-Ann-And-Thomas0]

I had a person attempt to book a month long stay. I told them that the month was not available and gave them other recommendations. They kept messaging insisting to stay with us. This went on for a couple of days. They told me their house had burned down and was being rebuilt and if I did not allow them to stay they would be homeless. Their location of residence was hundreds of miles from us, but they were telling me they were local. I finally had to report this to Airbnb and was able to block the person. Not sure what that was all about, but my gut said NO! 

[Yvette65]

If you do get calls about fires, floods, etc. People need housing. You need to talk to the insurance companies; they pay a lot more than our nightly prices and sometimes stay for up to 6 months.

[Kevin3294]

Hello Anthony, hope all is well with you

I have received a request this evening for a booking checking in tomorrow 

for two weeks , for thread adults traveling by van from the Uk to do some construction work for a friend in the local area. Iam really unsure 

Great if you can help 

Thank you

Kevin 

[Sarah5906]

We got scammed where the guest booked, we sent the check in info, then they revoked the request and we did not notice it. They stayed in the property for two nights and left. We were not paid. We didn't. notice it happened till we weren't paid. Airbnb support was horrible. I have heard of this happening with Uber rides where people will cancel their ride right before they arrive at their destination. This one is smart because they do a last minute booking, you accept and send check in info. Then they revoke and see if you notice they revoked it. 

[Dark80]

Here’s one…

I had a guest who was a local. Turned out we were already friends on FB even though we had never met in person. Late one night they sent a last minute request, which I approved. They then contacted me via FB saying they were there, and asked for the room code. I was at my GF’s place so I told my then husband to just let him in. It wasn’t until the morning that I discovered that the reservation would be cancelled within twenty four hours if they failed to provide a valid payment method, which they never did. When I called them on it they denied not having a valid payment method. They were gone by the time I returned, and I had video of them in the living room that morning (this was before the ban on security devices). I asked them to send a screenshot to  prove they had paid and they never got back to me.