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I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

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Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#501

Post by dwaltrip »

14 wrote: post #480
dwaltrip wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is such an elegant scam. [...] Is there market where HN-type people come up with these and sell them to people to implement? Seriously? What kind of fucking question is that?

What type of question is that? I mean does adding fuck add something here? And honestly isn't there entire forums on the darkweb dedicated to scams and fraud and stolen goods? Those forums are full of ideas on how to rip people off are they not? Anyways I think you could get your point across without using fuck here on HN.

It does add something. It succinctly and viscerally indicates how I abhorrent I find the line of thinking behind that question.

I don't normally use language like that on HN, but in this case I thought it was appropriate.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#502

Post by 52-6F-62 »

pingec wrote: post #489
jzwinck wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A family member of mine had something similar happen when using booking.com. She showed up at the hotel and they had sold her booked room to someone else. It was late and a bit of a nightmare to find another place to stay. Overbooking airplanes means someone might be stuck sitting in the terminal for hours. Overbooking.com means someone might be made to drive around late at night, tired, with nowhere to sleep.

When we accidentally took a double booking for the same place, booking.com demanded that we arrange and pay for equivalent accommodation for the booking.com guests. That is what we did, I do not know what would have happened had we refused to do so.

Wow that’s messy.

I have trip this coming month through Expedia and the last leg of our bargain basement flight got cancelled. The rep told me there were no flights for days surrounding our original flight date.

I had to sit on hold for a long time but I have to say they were great. United swept our transportation out from under our feet but the rep was able to wrangle a flight with fewer stops that arrives earlier without us having to pay the difference. We had those locked-in cheap tickets that charge you a couple hundred just to upgrade your ticket before the price difference is even considered.

Needless to say we were greatly relieved...

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#503

Post by missedthecue »

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?

Yes, it's called blackhatworld.com

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#504

Post by axaxs »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #405
axaxs wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It really depends on the card. As mentioned, Amex and Discover really seem to be the best. I've only disputed a handful of times, and each time they refund the money immediately while they figure out who was right.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#505

Post by telesilla »

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…

I booked a hotel room in Paris earlier this year over AirBnB out of curiosity, as the room was cheaper than advertised on other platforms. The day before, I thought to call and verify it wasn't a scam and the hotel manager had no record of my stay. A scammer had just uploaded pictures of the hotel room to AirBnB. I got a full refund (and the hotel, in thanks for me letting them know they were scam targets gave me a discount) but the scammer account is still online. No clue why AirBnB didn't scrub this. And I don't get why the scammer thought it would work, as they don't get paid until at least one night stay with no complaints.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#506

Post by vinay427 »

MrQuincle wrote: post #223
dfxm12 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this different from a hotel? From rentals in general? I guess you know what you're going to get if you're staying at a national chain that you've stayed at before, but there's not always one available or in your budget.

Note also that if a host cancels on you at the last moment, you can't give a negative review at all. That would never happen with a hotel.

I have seen the automated messages along the lines of "host canceled booking 24h before check-in" on many or even most Airbnb listings. Is this not still a thing?

You can't leave a written review, but maybe that's appropriate if you haven't actually stayed at the place.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#507

Post by novok »

segh wrote: post #373
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?

I hope not! Better put your efforts into creating value rather than winning zero-sum scams.

Negative-sum TBH

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#508

Post by DenisM »

mullingitover wrote: post #437
tomp wrote: post #428

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still better than Uber where if the driver cancels more than 5 minutes after accepting the ride, the rider gets charged (as if the rider had cancelled). They're very fast to issue refunds, but only if requested... I wonder how many people just never notice the fraudulent charge! One reason I minimally trust Uber and keep checking all their charges...

A person close to me had a driver fail to end the ride, and drove around several miles racking up charges. When she noticed this and complained to Uber, they rejected her claim. When she disputed Uber's fraudulent charge on her credit card, they blacklisted her account.

Did she just create a new account?

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#509

Post by vinay427 »

dboreham wrote: post #157
mattrp wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would second this experience. We travel with our five kids and its sometimes impossible to find a hotel that can accommodate us. That said, I did experience a switcheroo in Chicago similar to the article. However that’s where the similarities end. The place was in the same neighborhood, it was comparable to the listing but the only catch was we were told not say Airbnb to anyone in the building but to say guests of…

I haven't stayed at Airbnbs in the US but it has been a common experience in Europe to be instructed to say we're guests of the owner if asked. I assume this is about either HOA rules on subletting, or tax/insurance/regulatory issues.

I doubt that would hold up for insurance purposes. Also, I think it's relatively unlikely that tax inspectors come around and talk to suspected guests, at least compared to the common situation of HOA/lease policies restricting subletting.

Re: I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb

#510

Post by trentnix »

amiga_500 wrote: post #463
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…

A company that is based on a tax loophole doesn’t behave ethically?

There may be other reasons Airbnb is unethical, but minimizing one's taxes legally is not unethical.
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