I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb • Hacker News Board

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#401

Post by ghostbrainalpha » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:30 PM UTC

jancsika wrote: post #366

elchupanebre wrote: post #342

Here is another scam that someone tried to pull on me. I booked a place in Reno a week in advance. On the night before check-in at about 2am I got a text from the host asking me to increase the price of stay by $20. That was small and I did not want the hassle of arguing but just decided to leave it till morning. In the morning I looked at it again on computer (as opposed to the phone) and saw something odd: the date…

That is such an elegant scam. It's like a magic trick complete with misdirection. Is there market where HN-type people come up with these and sell them to people to implement?

You can't make a business of an honest marketplace based on selling services only to dishonest people. Eventually your own customers will ruin the business.

This is the fundamental reason "Organized Crime" always fails in the end.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#402

Post by yumraj » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:31 PM UTC

itake wrote: post #29

wholepointofcc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try calling your Credit Card company and flag it as fraud. That's what I would do. That failing I'd submit a police report.

That doesn't work well b/c then Airbnb just bans you from the platform

This is the 3rd or 4th comment I've seen about not reporting to credit card company because AirBnb may ban you.

Are people really so afraid of being banned by a company such as Airbnb that they will just suck up when defrauded?

It's a vacation rental company, and not very good at that. Why are people so afraid of it?

Genuinely curious..

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#403

Post by the_watcher » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:32 PM UTC

cwkoss wrote: post #364

Whenever you're asking for a full refund in cases of fraud, regardless of the business, be sure to use the word "chargeback" with the customer service rep. Fraudulent sales can be easily reversed by your credit card provider. In my experience, saying "If I don't get a refund, I'll issue a chargeback through my credit card provider" gets them to process the full refund immediately.

Yep. Just be clear that you'd really prefer to resolve it with the company, but that if they refuse, you view it as fraud and will pursue appropriate remedies.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#404

Post by lammalamma25 » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:32 PM UTC

majos wrote: post #329

People who have been scammed like this on Airbnb: did you a book a well-reviewed place? As a precaution, I only stay in places with at least ~50 happy, realistic reviews. I've stayed in maybe a dozen such places and never run into anything worse than slightly unclear arrival instructions. I'm not saying Airbnb is great, but I'm curious as to what these eventual scams looked like at the outset. I suppose it's possible…

I'd be interested in someone with a good profile selling it to a bad actor for a lump sum. I'm not saying this happens, but it seems like it would be easy to do/very hard to prevent. Especially if you're moving out of the original listing.

Generally number of reviews is a good measure of quality IMO.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#405

Post by PopeDotNinja » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:34 PM UTC

axaxs wrote: post #48

wholepointofcc wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try calling your Credit Card company and flag it as fraud. That's what I would do. That failing I'd submit a police report.

That's essentially what I was thinking even when reading the article. Get a good credit card company that's on your side (Amex has been best for me, Discover too), and let them deal with it. They absolutely will not screw around with stuff like this.

You might find it hard to reverse charges. Credit card companies will absolutely reverse fraudulent charges. However, they don't like to get in the middle of price disputes in my experience. If you say you agreed to pay $10, but that you were charged $20, the credit card company may tell you to work it out with the merchant.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#406

Post by Sohcahtoa82 » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:35 PM UTC

I've only used Airbnb once, but it was a smooth experience.

But after reading this and all the comments here, I'm unlikely to use them again. As far as I'm concerned, Airbnb is complicit in all these scams. They literally give zero shits about these scam artists, because they're getting paid either way.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#407

Post by ghaff » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:36 PM UTC

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #401

jancsika wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is such an elegant scam. It's like a magic trick complete with misdirection. Is there market where HN-type people come up with these and sell them to people to implement?

You can't make a business of an honest marketplace based on selling services only to dishonest people. Eventually your own customers will ruin the business. This is the fundamental reason "Organized Crime" always fails in the end.

Organized Crime mostly fails because people get thrown in jail. Obviously not happening here.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#408

Post by dreamcompiler » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:37 PM UTC

jschwartzi wrote: post #270

lb1lf wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Try to get refund from AirBnb for misprepresentation or deliberate omissions of negative points. -I don’t know whether their policy differs from country to country, but after using AirBnb 30+ times traveling with wife and three kids in Northern/Central Europe, I’ve only had two issues - once the place we were to stay was double-booked (and we arrived last!); the other it turned out what was described as a ‘bedroom’…

When my fiance and I stayed at a place in Paia on Maui, the place looked immaculate from the pictures. But when we got there it was full of cockroaches. We had literally just gotten in at like 4 pm, put groceries down on the counter, and the little buggers were on them almost immediately. We were exhausted and didn't have the energy to really do anything after our 6 hour plane flight. The hosts came in and tried to r…

At least cockroaches don't bite. We got an Airbnb once in Belize that was effectively open air (it was too hot otherwise and there was no A/C) and the bed had mosquito netting around it which didn't go all the way to the ceiling. The host said "Oh just use the fan. Mosquitos hate fans." Of course the fan didn't work. We vacated that place quick. I still don't know whether this was a scam or simply a case of the locals being completely used to something an out-of-town guest would find horrifying.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#409

Post by 01010001 » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:37 PM UTC

fma wrote: post #340

Loughla wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, what you're experiencing is the transition to what we call traditionally, middle-age, I'm certain. And this isn't necessarily based on age, as much as mindset. There was a time, in my 20's, that I would drive out somewhere and 'just figure it out' once I got there. Even for work functions or conferences. Then AirBnB became a thing, and I was even more caution to the wind, because I can book ahead of time, but it…

yeah...I'm 36, married, 2 young kids..taking the family for a vacation over Christmas. This article basically convinced me to book a hotel instead of an AirBNB. I have not had a bad experience w/ AirBnB when it was just my wife and I travelling, but I can't subject my kids to sleeping overnight in a dump - or supporting a company that does not actively address these issues.

The bit about supporting a company that scams people regularly is not being noticed by many.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#410

Post by marcosdumay » Thu, Oct 31, 2019, 8:37 PM UTC

longerthoughts wrote: post #369

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with a lot of what you say, but > And if the host's place did burn down for real then a few hundred extra to pay for the guest's hotel for a few nights will surely be a negligent cost. is a very narrow view of someone who just lost their house to a fire. Even assuming nothing irreplaceable was lost, I feel my upcoming AirBnB guest might not be my top priority.

Any idea what hotels typically do in this situation? It's not exactly apples to apples but if you're going to make money by the same methods it seems within reason to play by similar rules.

Hotels fail empty, not overbooked. It is very rare that they can't take someone.