AirBnB fraud - beware all

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Almost got caught out by a fraudster pretending to hire out a villa. Villa was on AirBnB.co.uk. Appeared legit though the price was less than could be expected. I made contact through the site and then they called me up on mobile phone. We agreed a price and then they sent me contract details and bank details for transfer.

All looked thoroughly professional and the guy even sounded professional. Earlier the property had dropped off the site with the guy claiming they were making some updates to the information and it would be back up shortly. He then called me at 11pm asking when payment and contract would be sent through, this sent alarm bells ringing and I looked it up online to see that many had been robbed, see this link:

Airbnb scammers con £1,000s from british holidaymakers | This is Money

I would never make payment without making some thorough checks and the property had not come back on the site, neither did the property tally up with the feedback of the AirBnB user (who had some good feedback). Seems their account had been hacked and a fake property posted - though AirBnB just took the property off without informing me of it.

Guy gave me details of a TSB bank, so I called them up to report fraud and they said they we were too busy! I was like "I am calling to help you guys out here!"

[BrilloPad]

Top advice from your link :-


'Ensure the company's a member of a trade association such as Abta or Atol and when you pay them, don't pay by bank transfer, go to a company that accepts a credit card or a Visa debit card, because if something does go wrong - if it turns out there's a problem with accommodation - you'll be able to get your money back through the credit card company or bank if it's a Visa debit card.

[scooterscot]

Idiot.

I use airbnb for the letting of place and often for renting when travelling. There's never a request, not one, where my bank details are given as a means for the customer to send money to. That would be sidestepping the whole point of the service. Even photos of our place were independently verified and taken by an approved airbnb photographer.

No matter how good the service there will always be someone disappointed trying to save a penny by taking a shortcut. The bottom line, if it's too good to be true it probably is.

[The Spartan]

One question I have is were you actually going to rent it through AirBnB or were you trying to bypass it? As from experience when I've used AirBnB they've taken the payment and it isn't released to the person supplying the accommodation until 24 hours after you arrive at the location.

Plus they also have Paypal as one of their payment methods.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Idiot.

I use airbnb for the letting of place and often for renting when travelling. There's never a request, not one, where my bank details are given as a means for the customer to send money to. That would be sidestepping the whole point of the service. Even photos of our place were independently verified and taken by an approved airbnb photographer.

No matter how good the service there will always be someone disappointed trying to save a penny by taking a shortcut. The bottom line, if it's too good to be true it probably is.

True say - Luckily I had the checks in place to stop disaster, I have used bank transfer before on sites such as ownersdirect and not had an issue, so I had assumed AirBnB to go through the same checks and verifications.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

One question I have is were you actually going to rent it through AirBnB or were you trying to bypass it? As from experience when I've used AirBnB they've taken the payment and it isn't released to the person supplying the accommodation until 24 hours after you arrive at the location.

Plus they also have Paypal as one of their payment methods.

I wasn't trying to bypass it actually. It was just what the "owner" suggested as the way they do things. Thieves these days can be quite deceiving with the professional looking documents they provide and if they appear to be fully verified on the site..... All I am saying is others would easily fall victim to the con and it is good to beware and raise awareness.

[xoggoth]

I like watching Fake Britain on the BBC and it seems there is not a single area that is not rife with fraudsters.

[The Spartan]

I wasn't trying to bypass it actually. It was just what the "owner" suggested as the way they do things. Thieves these days can be quite deceiving with the professional looking documents they provide and if they appear to be fully verified on the site..... All I am saying is others would easily fall victim to the con and it is good to beware and raise awareness.

Fair one NW2PC, there's always someone willing to exploit others to make a quick buck I guess it's lucky you're not as easily sucked in as the general population

[pjclarke]

On a slightly less severe level, I'm currently looking for a studio or a one-bed on a short term let for a contract in London and paid a visit to 'Zone 1 Flats' in Kensington who seemed to have a few candidate properties on their books according to Zoopla. After all their (pretty amateurish) website boasts:-

an unbeatable and highly visible location on Kensington High Street.

The location turns out to be a third floor office on a dead end side street and entry is gained by presssing a buzzer with the business name taped onto it. (That should have been the 'walk away now' moment, but I persevered).

An Indian lady took my details and brought up a few possibles on her PC, and rang the ladylady of one I liked the look of to arrange a viewing. Then she pushed her standard contract across the desk. Turns out that Zone 1 Flats are an 'introductions agency', for the trifling sum of £109, Zone 1 would provide me with three months worth of introductions to landlords.

In other words, if I didn't like the flat to which Z1 'introduced' me, I would walk away with nothing, and they would walk away with my £109. Hmmmm ...

I declined, and walked away.

Is this common practice down here? I've no problem with paying an agency that successfully finds me a place, but once they have my ca$h, I see no incentive for an introductions agency to do anything further....