Curiosity killed the cat, I just tried "www.e-airbnb.com" and surprisingly it redirects to "www.airbnb.com"
Seems it is not a fraud website, why?
Be aware of phishing at airbnb
41–50 of 79 posts
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#42Perhaps Gmail et al could have something a bit more pro-active to detect this kind of bait and switch, so if an address has been used a number of times, then a small variation on that address is seen, then steps are taken to warn the user.
I would prefer mail providers not snooping into my mail, thank you very much.
There's already sophisticated software running that scans your email for spam, I imagine this would be another (complex) rule.
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#43@everyone: Renting your place through airbnb is most probably illegal in Barcelona. Please double or triple-check any offers you get because you must be registered (and pay) if you want to rent your place to tourists [1] here. @poster: Contact me (mynickname at la3 dot org) if you are running short on money because of the scam and need a place to stay for a few days. This is a couchsurfing style offer, not airbnb sty…
Most of airbnb's listings in many of their most popular cities are done illegally. It's kind of the m.o. of airbnb. Take a look at Manhattan and do a search for 'whole apt'. Every single one of those is illegal unless the owner has a bed and breakfast license (the one or two that do will mention the fact that they do). When you run the numbers by searching the 'own room' and 'shared room', you realize that over 50% o…
why would you trust a company that runs a mostly-illegal apartment rental service?
Because the law hasn't caught up to reality yet.
Airbnb has made a significant positive difference in my own life. I would've been in a bad spot if not for the places I found via Airbnb. No idea whether the transactions were legal, but in the end I found a place to live and the host found a tenant. Win-win.
The problem is when people rent these places and then throw loud parties. The neighbors' rights are violated in that case. I don't know of a good solution, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing the entire platform due to that problem.
EDIT: It seems like if people here were given the option of either casting me out into the street or letting me rent an Airbnb apartment, some would honestly and truly choose the former.
In the part of America I was in, you can't get an apartment without proof of employment, unless you have more than $15k in the bank. (Something like a year or two worth of rent. I forget the exact amount.) I was between jobs at the time, and needed a place to stay to get another job. So, which illegal act would you have me do: Get a friend to say they were "employing" me as a consultant, or rent an apartment via Airbnb? Why would you be okay with the former, but not the latter? And if you're okay with neither, then what would you have me do?
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#44The payment is done through the Airbnb site, not moneygramm
Seems like a scam that's avoidable
EDIT: Yes, I believe some people still get caught by it, looking at the AirBnb site they should make this information more prominent
This is very hidden: https://www.airbnb.ca/help/article/51
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#45Also watch out for a bait and switch on Airbnb. I'm actually sitting in a nice apt now from airbnb. So I am happy with it. But there is another host who is trying to get me for an $1800 cleaning fee. What happens is you book a room in advance for a month. Then the host waits until 12 hours before the point of no cancelation to say "its not available but there is another one for a lot less cost that is a lot worse.".…
Just talk to Airbnb. They have really good customer support and if a host is doing anything fishy they will offer full refunds with an additional credit for a future booking.
I encountered a similar situation in Portland a couple weeks ago and Airbnb was great!
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#46Curiosity killed the cat, I just tried "www.e-airbnb.com" and surprisingly it redirects to "www.airbnb.com" Seems it is not a fraud website, why?
They just fooled you as well. I'd definitely have the main URL redirect to where people thought they should go, then have internal pages contain the fraudulent payment gateway.
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#47Curiosity killed the cat, I just tried "www.e-airbnb.com" and surprisingly it redirects to "www.airbnb.com" Seems it is not a fraud website, why?
Redirecting from one domain to another can be done without being affiliated with the target domain.
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of airbnb's listings in many of their most popular cities are done illegally. It's kind of the m.o. of airbnb. Take a look at Manhattan and do a search for 'whole apt'. Every single one of those is illegal unless the owner has a bed and breakfast license (the one or two that do will mention the fact that they do). When you run the numbers by searching the 'own room' and 'shared room', you realize that over 50% o…
why would you trust a company that runs a mostly-illegal apartment rental service? Because the law hasn't caught up to reality yet. Airbnb has made a significant positive difference in my own life. I would've been in a bad spot if not for the places I found via Airbnb. No idea whether the transactions were legal, but in the end I found a place to live and the host found a tenant. Win-win. The problem is when people r…
I was in a bad place until I discovered bank robbery. My life has been one big party ever since.
There's just a small matter that the law hasn't caught up to reality yet.
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most of airbnb's listings in many of their most popular cities are done illegally. It's kind of the m.o. of airbnb. Take a look at Manhattan and do a search for 'whole apt'. Every single one of those is illegal unless the owner has a bed and breakfast license (the one or two that do will mention the fact that they do). When you run the numbers by searching the 'own room' and 'shared room', you realize that over 50% o…
why would you trust a company that runs a mostly-illegal apartment rental service? Because the law hasn't caught up to reality yet. Airbnb has made a significant positive difference in my own life. I would've been in a bad spot if not for the places I found via Airbnb. No idea whether the transactions were legal, but in the end I found a place to live and the host found a tenant. Win-win. The problem is when people r…
> The problem is when people rent these places and then throw loud parties. The neighbors' rights are violated in that case. I don't know of a good solution, but I don't think it's worth sacrificing the entire platform due to that problem.
The thing that frustrates me is that there are pretty obvious solutions, actually:
1) AirBnB needs to provide a service where anyone can check to see if a building has any AirBnB units in it. Then they need to be able to file complaints about the unit.
2) AirBnB needs to require written permission from the landlord of the property.
1) seems completely feasible to implement for me, and I'm pissed they haven't yet. The only problem is once they have the complaint, they'd pretty much be required to notify the landlord which leads us to 2) which also seems feasible, but would obviously obliterate their market. Ultimately they've overextended themselves on that front, and either they will be successful lobbying change, or a company that figures out how to do what they are doing while making peace with landlords and the hotel lobby will come along.
Re: Be aware of phishing at airbnb
#50Curiosity killed the cat, I just tried "www.e-airbnb.com" and surprisingly it redirects to "www.airbnb.com" Seems it is not a fraud website, why?
The whois information looks clearly fishy:https://who.is/whois/e-airbnb.com
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.publicdomainregistry.com ... Creation Date: 21-Mar-2014 ... Registrant Organization: Privacy Protection Service INC d/b/a PrivacyProtect.org Registrant Street: C/O ID#10760, PO Box 16 Note - Visit PrivacyProtect.org to contact the domain owner/operator Note - Visit PrivacyProtect.org to contact the domain owner/operator