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  • Geebo 9:00 am on March 3, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, , , ,   

    Scammers try to sell Airbnb homes 

    Scammers try to sell Airbnb homes

    By Greg Collier

    Some say there are numerous problems with short-term rental services like Airbnb. For example, some critics say the homes could be put to better use as family homes than short-term rentals. Especially while the country is in a housing crisis. Others say that Airbnb renters can be disruptive and destructive to residential neighborhoods. There’s also the problem of Airbnb hosts who rent out properties that are either below living standards or are misrepresented in the listing. Now, Airbnb can add one more problem to the list.

    According to a report out of Portland, Oregon, Airbnb hosts have come across a new scam that could put their rental property in jeopardy. Multiple hosts have reported renting their units out to renters who turn out to be scammers. The scammers then pose as real estate agents and hold showings or open houses of the rental property. The properties are being listed on a real estate website that only deals with sales by the homeowners. Scammers are listing the homes at ridiculously low prices and are offering to sell them for cash in hand to only first-time homebuyers.

    One Airbnb host was able to record a scammer showing the property to first-time buyers through a security camera. Where the camera was installed in the Airbnb is unknown.

    If you’re an Airbnb host, it’s recommended you routinely check to make sure the property isn’t being listed for sale on sites like Zillow, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace.

    If you’re a first-time homebuyer, try to avoid listings that are well below market value. Also, do plenty of research on the property first before making any payments. While paying for a home in full is the dream of every homeowner, finding a cheap home in good condition is more the exception than the rule. And the odds that you found the exception are very low.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 14, 2023 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, , ,   

    Roaming Scammers: Fraudsters on the Move 

    By Greg Collier

    When we think of scammers, we tend to think of the stereotypical scammer from overseas. While there is some truth in that stereotype, America has its fair share of scammers, and they might be on their way to where you live.

    While the majority of scams can be done remotely, there are some that require a more personal touch by the scammers. The grandparent scam is one of those scams. The grandparent scam is a common tactic used by fraudsters to trick elderly individuals into paying a large sum of money. The scammer pretends to be the victim’s grandchild, who is supposedly in legal trouble, often due to a fabricated car accident. To convince the victim to pay, the scammer may also impersonate a police officer or a lawyer. The end goal of this scam remains the same, which is to trick the victim into paying the scammer a large amount of money.

    For the grandparent scam to be successful, the scammer must be able to mimic the voice of the victim’s grandchild on the phone. This is why this type of scam is not typically carried out by scammers operating from overseas. To collect the money quickly, the scammer must be in the same geographical location as the victim. As a result, grandparent scammers often travel around the country in search of new, unsuspecting victims. This mobility also allows them to quickly move on to another area once they have either made enough money or if the authorities start to investigate.

    Three scammers from New York City had a run-in with the law during their trip to Syracuse, New York. Despite the long drive, the trio rented an Airbnb as they targeted their unsuspecting victims. The scammers were reported to have successfully conned an elderly couple out of $9500 before making two more attempts to extract more money. On their fourth call, they were caught red-handed as the police listened in on the line. Despite their brief stay in Syracuse, the trio of scammers were able to deceive their victims out of a staggering $24,000. Had they been able to move on undetected, it is uncertain how many more individuals would have fallen prey to their deceitful schemes.

    To safeguard yourself from the grandparent scam, it’s crucial to approach unexpected phone calls or emails from people claiming to be a grandchild in distress with skepticism. Never disclose personal information or money until you have verified the identity of the caller. To confirm their identity, try asking questions that only your real grandchild would know the answer to. Another precautionary measure is to establish a code word with your grandchildren to use in such situations. If you suspect a call or email to be fraudulent, don’t hesitate to report it to the authorities.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on July 19, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, , , ,   

    Airbnb scam sends strangers to your door 

    Airbnb scam sends strangers to your door

    By Greg Collier

    Typically, in any kind of rental scam, the scammers will copy a legitimate real estate listing before posting their scam copy online. If the home is actually for sale, scammers will list it as being for rent. They’ll do this in order to collect deposits and rent from unsuspecting victims. But, what can you do if the home you live in and own is being used in a rental scam? One woman from Detroit recently found out.

    The woman owns her own home in the Motor City, but recently, strangers started showing up at her door looking for a way in. The first time this happened, she asked the people on her porch what they were doing there through her home security camera. The people said they had rented the property off short-term rental platform Airbnb.

    This has happened to the woman multiple times, with disappointed vacationers showing up to her home, only to be told the property isn’t for rent. As we said, typically scammers use properties that have been listed online before. According to the homeowner, this property has never been listed. So, it seems like scammers may be picking homes either at random or by location to list on Airbnb.

    However, this scam does not seem very practical in terms of profit for the scammer. Airbnb processes the payments between renter and host. So, if a scam like this is detected, Airbnb can reverse the payment. They’ve even said that in this particular instance, the scammer did not get paid. It’s entirely possible that this could have been a scammer testing the Airbnb process for possible vulnerabilities.

    This doesn’t change the fact that people expecting to rent a vacation spot had to be turned away from someone’s home. It only takes one person who refuses to believe they’ve been scammed to turn this into a volatile situation.

    If people show up at your home thinking they’ve scored a vacation rental, contact the platform, in this case Airbnb, immediately to have the listing removed. If you’re a person looking for a short-term rental on platforms like Airbnb, research the host before committing. Phony hosts will often use images stolen off the internet in their profiles. A reverse image search goes a long way in weeding out scam hosts.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on June 3, 2022 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, , , , , , , , ,   

    It’s time for vacation scam season again 

    By Greg Collier

    Memorial Day weekend often indicates the unofficial start of the Summer season. With that, many couples and families will be planning their Summer getaways. But the one thing we may not get away from are vacation scams. While some vacation scams may be minor, there are others that could have devastating effects that could end your vacation before it even begins.

    One of the more common and expensive scams is the Summer rental scam. Many properties listed online for Summer rental are often either misrepresented or non-existent. Just like in a regular rental scam, a scammer may have copied a listing from a legitimate realtor and posted it on places like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace as if they own the property. At least in a local rental scam, a potential renter can swing by the property to look for any inconsistencies. It’s almost impossible to do that with a vacation rental, since the property is usually a large distance away. Even with vacation rentals, you should do a web search of the address to make sure the property is actually being rented and who is actually renting it.

    If you’re planning in using a short-term rental service like Airbnb or VRBO, there have been issues in the past where hosts have grossly misrepresented their properties in order to get as many renters as possible. This has included properties in states of disrepair, rooms that looked more like jail cells than a living space, and switching properties on renters altogether.

    Another common scam is the front desk scam. This is where scammers will call your hotel room in the middle of the night, posing as the front desk. The scammers will claim that there is a problem with your payment information and will ask you to verify the information. You should never give this information out over the phone. If there is an actual issue with the front desk, walk down to their office to verify any problems.

    A new scam we’re hearing about is phony rideshare drivers. They’ll claim they work for Uber or Lyft and just had a fare cancel on them. More than likely, they’ll claim there is an outage preventing them from using the service’s app for payment.

    Lastly, when at all possible, book your vacation and plan your expenses by using a credit card. Credit cards offer more protection than debit cards if you happen to fall victim to a scam. While once cash is lost, it’s lost forever.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on February 3, 2020 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, ,   

    How to recognize an Airbnb scam 

    How to recognize an Airbnb scam

    Last Fall, a reporter from VICE unintentionally uncovered an alleged scam ring that was operating on Airbnb. She found that several hosts were using bait and switch tactics to get guests into substandard accommodations. In her case, the hosts said that there was a plumbing accident at the property she had booked but they offered her a substitute booking. The replacement lodging was compared to that of a flophouse. She discovered that the hosts were allegedly pulling the same scam using different names all over the country. It seems that these scammers were not the only ones.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfwRWgw_M3I%5D

    In a recent follow-up article, VICE reached out to their readers and asked them what scams they had encountered while using Airbnb. The bait and switch was an obvious one with many people reporting that hosts would say that something happened to the property in the listing, like a plumbing emergency, and that they would rent them a different listing which of course was substandard. Another common scam was hosts trying to get guests to pay for their stays outside of the Airbnb platform through either cryptocurrency, check, or a third-party payment app. Other respondents said that hosts would often try to charge them for damages where the fees were much greater than the cost to repair the damages.

    Unfortunately, with the way the Airbnb platform is set up, you can’t often detect a scam listing until you’ve already made arrangements. The best protection against these scams is to thoroughly research the hosts. It’s recommended that you do a reverse image search on their profile pictures to make sure the hosts aren’t using stock images or images they found online. You can also research the people leaving good reviews for the hosts to make sure they’re not the hosts leaving phony reviews. However, the only foolproof way to avoid Airbnb scams is to rent a hotel room.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 7, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, , ,   

    Airbnb promises changes amid scandals 

    Airbnb promises changes amid scandals

    Airbnb has not had the best week PR-wise. After a shooting took place at one of their listings in Orinda, Califonia, Airbnb is also facing backlash in Jersey City after voters approved restrictions of short term rentals. On top of that there was also the expose published by VICE that uncovered a nationwide scam run by phony Airbnb hosts. Scandals like these have sunk lesser companies and platforms. However, instead of trying to defend what has happened, Airbnb has promised that they will be enacting sweeping changes to their platform to ensure better experiences for their users.

    In the wake of these issues, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced plans to make all listings 100% verified. According to Chesky, this means all hosts and listings will undergo further scrutiny. Airbnb will also be launching a 24-hour hotline for users so problems can be reported immediately. This is almost unheard of in the era of everything being done online. Good luck trying to get a hold of many other platforms by phone for assistance. They also plan to make the refund process much smoother if a listing doesn’t measure up to standards.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2LBAOe80gw%5D

    What gives us pause is Chesky says that part of the verification process will be depend on community policing. That means that users will be relied on to give honest reports of listings they encounter. We have seen other sites that have relied on community policing where the community was overrun by those that community policing was supposed to report on. However, Airbnb is promising that community policing is not the only method of verification they will be using. They will also be conducting their own monitoring of listings for fraudulent activity. Not a lot of companies or platforms are willing to commit that kind of manpower to monitoring.

     

  • Geebo 9:00 am on November 4, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, ,   

    Reporter uncovers large scale Airbnb scam 

    Reporter uncovers large scale Airbnb scam

    Whenever there is an online platform that requires a level of trust between users, there is always going to be someone looking to take advantage of that trust. Take Airbnb for example. Usually, when a violation of that trust makes the news, it’s about how a renter took advantage of the host’s trust and trashed the property. We hardly ever hear about hosts taking advantage of renters and if we do, it’s not on the scale that was recently uncovered by former senior staff writer at VICE, Allie Conti. What she uncovered can almost be considered a conspiracy.

    While Ms. Conti was in the process of renting an Airbnb for a concert festival she was notified by the hosts that the property she rented was having plumbing issues and the property was flooded. The hosts then reportedly said that they have another property they can rent to her. Ms. Conti agreed and went to the new property which she describes as nothing short of a flophouse. She was only able to get a partial refund from Airbnb. After her trip, she decided to investigate and found that the hosts were allegedly phonies who were using stock photos in their Airbnb profile. Apparently, the hosts were using this same scam all across the country using various names. We recommend reading the entire VICE article to get the full experience from Ms. Conti’s investigation.

    So how can you protect yourself from such a scam? Unfortunately, the nature of Airbnb is that you really can’t protect yourself from this kind of scam. In many cases, guests are depending on the Airbnb they’ve booked and the scammers don’t contact them about the ‘problem’ until the guests are already in town. If guests are in town for a major convention, festival, or sporting event then their options are minimal. Finding a hotel room at this point is almost impossible. Also, keep in mind that Airbnb refund policies seem to favor the host rather than the guest. The only thing we can really recommend is to book a hotel room early.

     

  • Geebo 8:02 am on May 22, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, ,   

    Has your Airbnb account been hacked? 

    Has you Airbnb account been hacked?

    A new scam has been targeting users of the online rental service Airbnb. Some users of the platform have reported having their accounts hijacked and then had phony reservations made in their name. Their money is then taken from their bank or PayPal account before the non-refundable reservation is canceled. The scammers will then change your phone number and login credentials on your Airbnb accounts so you can’t contact Airbnb to get a refund.

    Airbnb says that these have been isolated incidents and are working with affected users. However, many users have complained that once their accounts are hacked it’s been difficult to get in touch with Airbnb’s customer service. Users are also expressing concerns that Airbnb is not informing their users about the recent hacks.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3JygPGWWOs%5D

    Reports state that the accounts are being hijacked through phishing attacks. That means the scammers are sending out emails that look like they’re from Airbnb and are trying to get consumers to give up their log in information. To better protect yourself, never click on links from suspicious emails. These emails may come from such email addresses as “airbnb-bookings.com” or “Airbnb1.com.” Official emails from Airbnb will only be addressed from Airbnb.com.

     

  • Geebo 8:00 am on April 9, 2019 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, FDA, glucose meters, hate groups, , , , test strips, , video doorbells   

    FDA warns about test strips, video doorbells being stolen, and Airbnb to ban hate groups 

    FDA warns about test strips, video doorbells being stolen, and Airbnb to ban hate groups

    If you happen to have a condition where the use of glucose meters and test strips are required, the FDA has issued a warning about using pre-owned test strips that you may find for sale online. While there has not been a report of these strips impacting anybody’s health negatively yet, the FDA warns against the practice of purchasing pre-owned strips as they could potentially give out incorrect readings which could lead to imbalances in the delicate measurement of medicine required to aid in keeping your condition under control. While it may seem like a way to save money, the FDA is also saying that some of these strips have been banned from the US as they’ve been known to cause infections. The mixing and matching of meters and test strips is something the FDA has been trying to discourage for years.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo9BQIRBF48%5D

    If you have a video doorbell designed to keep thieves away from your front door, you may be facing a new issue lately. it’s now being reported that a rash of video doorbell thefts have been occurring in many major population centers across the US. Even though the higher-end doorbells have been recording the thefts, there haven’t been an equal amount of arrests. This is due to the fact that either police do not have the resources to track down every doorbell thief or that the thieves are disguising themselves before stealing the items. As can be expected with most stolen items, they can end up for sale online. Both of the major manufacturers of these types of doorbells, Ring and Nest, both have programs to assist customers whose devices have been stolen. However, it is always recommended that you contact the police first.

    Gizmodo is reporting that Airbnb is actively trying to dissuade and in some cases outright banning hate groups from using their service. A convention being held by hate groups as designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center later this year. Gizmodo brought it to the attention of Airbnb that many attendees of the convention had planned to use Airbnb while participating at the convention. Airbnb has said that these hate groups violate their community standards and will look to enforce that policy and have already banned several well-known members of these groups. How Airbnb will choose to keep these groups from using their services in the future remains to be seen.

     

  • Geebo 9:01 am on March 29, 2018 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Airbnb, ,   

    Airbnb being used in craigslist scam 

    Airbnb being used in craigslist scam

    Short-term rental platform Airbnb has had its own problems lately when it comes to local zoning laws and ever-increasing pressure from the hospitality industry. Now, they find themselves as unwilling participants in a rental scam that unsurprisingly takes place on craigslist, and like most craigslist scams, it’s a new twist on an old scam.

    A report out of Minneapolis is stating that a property listed on Airbnb for temporary stays is being listed on craigslist as a more permanent rental. The craigslist scammers copied the Airbnb ad almost word for word and stole all the pictures used in the original ad. The scammers then tried to get a victim to wire them $2,100 to an out-of-state bank. This isn’t the only type of Airbnb scam perpetrated through craigslist as this video shows.

    As stated before, this is a twist on an old scam where craigslist scammers would copy entire ads from the websites of realtors of homes for sale, then list the properties on craigslist as rentals in order to try to scam people out of phony deposit or background check fees depending on how ambitious the scammers are.

    As with any online transaction, never wire money anywhere. It’s too easy for the scammers to remain anonymous and make off with your money. In too many instances the money lost is all the money the victims had in trying to find a home for their families who are then left penniless and without a roof over their heads.

     

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