COMPLAINT FILED UNDER:: GENERAL CONSUMER PRODUCTS / AIRBNB
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AirBNB - Leader For Welcoming Fraud & Scams
Complaint 181558 Details

  • Date Occurred: 11/20/2014
  • Reported Damages: $10,070.00
  • Location: Worldwide
  • !

The complaint is against an online dating profile

The complaint is a listing fraud posted on public forums or sites against an anonymous entity

The complaint is mobile text spam or smishing related against an anonymous entity

The company or person contact no longer exists

International boundaries

I have booked an accommodation via airbnb with the thought of using their payment booking procedure. An email, which looked like it was generated by airbnb was send to my personal email (linked to airbnb) within 15 minutes of when I requested the booking.

The email from '[email protected]' was send to my personal email address, which only airbnb must have got, and this email looked all legit with banking details provided and a airbnb guarantee included. Bank details:
ACCOUNT: Air Incorp London
BANK: Barclays Bank Plc (All U.K Offices)
ADDRESS:127 Abbots Drive, Wembley, HA0 3SH,London
IBAN: GB61 BARC 2091 7963 8993 81
SWIFT CODE/BIC (Bank Identifier Code): BARCGB22
Once the money was transferred to this UK bank account from our Dutch bank account I received another email 24 hours later from '[email protected]' that they money was received and the booking was confirmed.
I had already contact with the host regarding specific property details, birthday arrangements for my father, via SMS, email and via the message system of airbnb. A few days later, after many excuses from the host why she didn’t manage to call me I thought it became very suspicious. Contact airbnb to ask for the opinion, and I was informed by an airbnb telephone staff; "sorry this is a hoax, we have removed the property from our website, we are sorry". And that’s it, the property listing on airbnb was removed and the phone no. of the host does not anymore reply.

We are now in the process of getting the money back from the Barclay bank in London, however, chances are small we will ever see our 10.070 euro family holiday savings back!
THE WORST of the story – Airbnb DOES NOT feel any responsibility, and does not do anything to help you !

SO I SUGGEST – NEVER BOOK VIA AIRBNB, their website is way to fraud sensitive, as they don’t do any background checks on host’s that display properties on their website. They don’t even check the address of the building location! I did a new search today, found 4 frauds within minutes!

I even start to doubt if there is a dark side within Airbnb, because how do I know if they don’t just use their website platform to hide their true money making business? You never know people… this I can’t prove but still makes me wonder..

  • Seeking Resolution: I'm Looking for a Refund
  • Refund Amount: $ 10,070.00

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Comments

  • shortcutb
  • shortcutb SBID #5ac53a641b
  • Posted 12/06/2014
  • This happened to us last week. The e-mail sent had all branding from automated
    Is there ANYTHING we can do to recoup this money? Why can't bank go after the bank this was transferred to?

    Here's the e-mail that duped us (and AirBnB takes no responsibility for other people using their site to fraud others)

    From: "Airbnb" <[email protected]>
    Date: November 29, 2012, 2:31:45 PM EST
    To: ---

    Subject: Reservation confirmed -Brie Miranda Bryant- Stunning Ocean View
    Reply-To: [email protected]



    Sign In



    Hello --,

    You’re going to Phuket, Thailand ! Please review your trip details below and contact your host, Joanne Baylis immediately to confirm the payment. We have approved this transaction and we are offering you full protection.

    Thanks for using Airbnb






    Itinerary
    CONFIRMATION CODE: NSPBCC


    December 30
    2012
    Flexible check in time

    Check In

    January 2
    2013
    Flexible check out time

    Check Out



    3
    Nights
    5/6
    Guests



    Stunning Ocean View





    Payment
    Payment of 3.187,00 USD must be sent by bank transfer.Required payment details for this transaction:

    Amount: 3.187,00 USD

    Amount Insured: 3.187,00 USD

    ACCOUNT:AIRBNB INC

    BANK NAME : BARCLAYS BANK PLC

    SORT CODE: 20 29 41

    ACCOUNT NUMBER: 33 57 73 41

    IBAN: GB47BARC20294133577341

    SWIFT CODE/BIC (Bank Identifier Code): BARCGB21XXX

    HOLDER ADDRESS: 8, Fairfields Crescent, The Hyde, London, NW9 0PS ,United Kingdom

    BANK ADDRESS: 1 The Broadway, Stanmore, Middx, HA7 4DB ,United Kingdom


    The payment must be made within 24 hours. In opposite case, your reservation request will expire.

    Once the payment was sent, email the host at [email protected] with the following information:

    1) Scanned copy of the receipt;
    2) Amount and exact time the wire was made.




    Cancellation Policy
    Strict: 100% refund up until 1 week prior to arrival, except fees.





    ACCOMMODATIONS
    3.000,00 USD

    AIRBNB SERVICE FEE 187.00 USD
    AIRBNB CONCIERGEBETAPREMIUM GUEST SERVICES
    Free

    TOTAL
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  • VJVD
  • VJVD SBID #8ce502ce97
  • Posted 12/07/2014
  • Hey, first of all im SO sorry that this happenend to you too. I feel your pain, its horrible!

    Now i suggest you take the following steps urgently (i did them at least):

    1. Call YOUR bank and inform that you are scammed and that they have to inform Barclay bank immediately that their account is used by criminals! And that you want to cancel your payment. You normally have 30 days officially to get a payment back. Put as much pressure on your bank and maybe ask if someone knows someone high positioned in your bank to speed up their internal process.

    2. Since you paid to a UK account report the fraud to the UK Fraud Intelligence Bureau ik UK - Its UK police:
    http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

    3. Contact your local Police and file a report maybe you are insured.

    4. Do not accept that Airbnb replies and say that there is nothing they can do. DONT STOP until you have their support! Write on facebook, write on other complaint website, inform the whole world about what happenend. We need to start warning people because Airbnb doesnt do that themselves. Today i found much more scammers on their website, so this business is still going on!

    Now, some questions: Did you have contact with the host by sms or phone? Did you double check in accomodation exists? Did you pay by credit card or bank transfer?

    I wish you all the luck, dont give up for trying to either get money back from Bank or Airbnb. Maybe take a lawyer? Maybe then Airbnb will help you?

    And yes, next time, NEVER pay anything over bank transfer, use credit card so that you are insured. Never book anything online from a host that has NO references or proof to be a real person. Its a hard lesson i had to learn :( :(
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  • Cheryl
  • Cheryl SBID #883b544bbd
  • Posted 12/16/2014
  • Hi, I am very sorry that this happened to you. It sounds so similar to what happened to me on 30 November 2012. Airbnb is not taking any responsibility at all. Very frustrating.
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  • AgainAnotherVictim
  • AgainAnotherVictim SBID #570b2ac4a2
  • Posted 12/20/2014
  • Hi, this happened exactly the same to us. Now since this is a pattern, it should be easy to spot this? Airbnb does not take responsibility for this, but also does not want to even disclose the info from this clearly fraud. And what about Barclays Bank UK? Do they check holders of bankaccounts? All are using this bank
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #3edad63b36
  • Posted 12/22/2014
  • Same thing happened to me. Fraudulent host used genuine photos on Airbnb. As per Airbnb policy I contacted the host to confirm availibility, then host asked to wait for email from Airbnb with payment instructions, which came a few hours later. I made the transfer to Airbnb Inc on a legitimate Barclays account in London.

    Here is the reply from Airbnb

    "My name is xxx and I am a member of the Trust and Safety Team here at Airbnb. We are truly sorry that you encountered a host using Airbnb improperly. Under no circumstances should you proceed with this reservation or contacting this host, for that matter. We have removed their profile from our site.

    I see that, after responding to the host’s request to communicate via a private, external web address, you transmitted payment via bank transfer. We urge you to contact your banking institution and halt this transfer, if at all possible. All legitimate payments on Airbnb will take place on our website. You should not receive a paper or PDF invoice from a host asking you for payment (...)"

    This is what I further replied

    "1. There was never any external website. The fraudulent host used yours, Airbnb.
    2. I did contact the host by email as it is the policy from Airbnb to do so to to confirm availability of the property.
    3. The (fraudulent) host told me to wait for an email from Airbnb with payment instructions.
    4. I received an email from Airbnb.com with payment instructions to a legitimate Barclays account in London with the account holder being Airbnb.

    I see the following security breaches

    1. The fraudulent host can send email from your Airbnb mail server.
    2. Barclays bank is having a client with the same name as yours, which is an International brand
    3. You should be working hand in hand with Barclays now to make sure all their accounts under your name are blocked, sealed and available to refund the victims"

    I am seeing my lawyer after the New Year and we sould think of the next steps.
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #3edad63b36
  • Posted 12/22/2014
  • It is actually a case of reverse identity theft. Someone is impersonating Airbnb with identical emails and bank accounts that look totally legitimate. Because airbnb insists we are not paying the host but we should pay them instead, we all fell for it.

    When I went to my bank to report the fraud they told me that when you don an international bank transfer, all thatt matters is the bank account number - there is no check on the account holder name, so it could be that the "Airbnb" name is not even that used to open the bank account with Barclays.

    Yet I am shocked that

    A) This is a such an elaborate scam that Airbnb does not show specific warnings on their website - I think they are not doing it to scare people off to use Airbnb at all

    B) Barclays bank is possibly co-defendent in this case since this is a case of a client who acts criminally using their bank. When you open a bank account in the UK, they must do a thorough KYC Know Your Customer check. They are possibly liable if they did not do it.

    I am based in Germany, where are all the other victims based? Is there anyone based in the UK to help deal with the Barclays side of things?

    I really think we have a possible class action suit in sight if only we are ready to spend the time, the energy, and the money on it.

    If I get a sense of how many people got scammed into this, we should think of creating a user group on FB for example.

    Comments welcome.
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  • bjorn
  • bjorn SBID #d188202948
  • Posted 01/02/2013
  • Exactly the same thing happened to me :(, same account number, etc. I don't know how it was with you guys, but we only found out the day we arrived at "our" appartment that was already rented by somebody else :(. Fortunately we found a great appt the same afternoon, but what an "*#(* that he set us (7 adults, 3 children) up this way!

    I live in The Netherlands btw..

    I already tried tracing him / her by the IP-address and it looks like it comes from Italy, I´ll try to search further. Any clues that indead he comes from Italy?

    I really think Barclays is the way for us if there is a way, AIRbnb has clear conditions and we did not follow them correctly, nevertheless they should state more specific warnings, I agree.

    What was the name you were contacted by, maybe this will help us in any way? With me he used Michael Larvic with 2 email adresses (hotmail.com and laposte.net)

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  • AgainAnotherVictim
  • AgainAnotherVictim SBID #570b2ac4a2
  • Posted 01/02/2013
  • I googled the apartment we were supposed to get, and I have found that the same apartment has been used at least 2 times in the Airbnb site:

    1. Manhattan-2 Bedroom Apartment in New York
    https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/804536
    This apartment is at 6th Ave. & 32nd Street in a stunning new apartment building. It islocated just one block from Penn Station, a short walk from... ... It is located just one block from Penn Station, a short walk from Macy's, Madison Square ...

    2. 2 Bedroom Apartment-Manhattan in New York
    https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/811805
    This apartment is at 6th Ave. & 32nd Street in a stunning new apartment building. It islocated just one block from Penn Station, a short walk from... ... It is located just one block from Penn Station, a short walk from Macy's, Madison Square ...

    Now IF Airbnb would have a check on the content which is on their site, they would have spotted this easily!! What is super annoying is that when I asked for the identity of the owner who did put this apartment on the site, I got a lot of bla bla: "We are based in California and we require any civil subpoena to be domesticated in CA and service to be made consistent with CA law." In other words, go to court we will not help you. In the meantime they deleted all communication from us from the site: wow, why would you do this? An insider job? Convenient to remove everything the moment there is a complaint.
    What does it also say to us: they do not check anything, (I would assume a triple identity confirmation would help against fraud).

    We are still waiting for our bank to resolve this with Barclays Bank, but we have no hopes....
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  • bjorn
  • bjorn SBID #d188202948
  • Posted 01/03/2013
  • why no hopes? Won't your bank cooperate in contacting barclays? Did you try to contact Barlcays yourself? that's my next step if my bank will not cooperate
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/07/2013
  • This is the answer from Barclays

    "PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE HAVE CREDITED THE BENEFICIARY AS
    PER YOUR BELOW MT103 INSTRUCTIONS ON DDxxx FOR AMOUNT xxxx GBP UNDER REFERENCE xxxx HOWEVER THE BENEFICIARY ACCOUNT IN OUR BOOKS IS CLOSED AND WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTACT THE BENEFICIARY. HENCE WE SUGGEST YOURSELVES TO ADVISE THE REMITTER TO DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE BENEFICIARY IN ORDER TO RESOLVE
    THE MATTER. TRUST THIS RESOLVES YOUR QUERY, WE CLOSE OUR FILES.
    "

    What is annoying to say the least from Barclay bank is that

    1) they did not do due diligence KYC (Know Your Customer), and they are still not releasing to my bank the real name of the account holder.

    2) they proceeded with the payment eventhough the account holder is not named "Airbnb Inc". This is a feature of international bank transfers, where only account numbers matter. The names do not need to match

    Finally, the problem I have with Airbnb is that

    1) the scam is operational since August 2012
    http://www.scambook.com/report/view/146837/AirBNB-Complaint-146837-for-$3,000.00

    2) they have only started warning their clients of the scam in late December / early January 2013

    https://www.airbnb.com/help/question/199

    I have put the matter into my laywers hand, but obviously there is a tradeoff between how much money to spend pursuing the claim and the amounts lost.

    Ideally we should unite together and explore possibilities of filing a class suit against Barclays (for hosting fraudulent accounts) and Airbnb for negligence.
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/07/2013
  • The latest answer from Barclays

    PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE HAVE CREDITED THE BENEFICIARY AS
    PER YOUR BELOW MT103 INSTRUCTIONS UNDER REFERENCE xxx AND AS PER UK DATA PROTECTION ACT WE CANNOT PROVIDE YOU ANY FURTHER DETAILS OF THE BENEFICIARY. TRUST
    THIS RESOLVES YOUR QUERY, WE CLOSE OUR FILES"

    Unbelievable
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  • Agnès
  • Agnès SBID #f3bfcb4585
  • Posted 01/07/2013
  • Airnbnb and Craigslist are scammers favorite's hunting ground.
    I've been a victim myself.
    Since that, I sometimes do a scan on scanandtrust. But beside that, they oftenly post articles on cybercrime news as here https://www.scanandtrust.com/Craigslist-vs-Airbnb-Lack-of-trust-on-the-internet-gives-power-and-MONEY-to-middlemen.html . I hope I'm being helpful here.
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/07/2013
  • I took legal advice. There is enough ground to legally ask Barclays for releasing then "real" names of the account holders - which won't get us far anyway. The next step would be to sue Barclays to have authorised a transfer on an account where the name does not match the name of the funds recipient.

    Barlcays is also likely to be in breach of Money Laundering and "Know Your Client" regulations since the scam has been ongoing now for many months. Likewise we could argue Airbnb has been extremely slow to report the scam to their own users (over 4 months). Sending letters to Barclays and Airbnb does not cost much. Bringing them to Court will. My insurance will not cover for this. I don't see any easy way to team together on this? I live in Germany and the only chance the prosecutor brings this to Court is that I am just one of many victims to report the same scam, which is also unlikely.

    Anyway, I will write to Barclays and Airbnb and we can wait (and wait) as there is not much more we can do. An article in the press would help but I have no connection there. An (national) association of consumers could also help. Or we need a lawyer victim of the same scam to help us (I am saying this only half jokingly).
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  • bjorn
  • bjorn SBID #83f1c50b62
  • Posted 01/08/2013
  • brrr... I still can't believe how not cooperative most companies / people are when something like this happens :(.

    I'm still having a go to find more information based on the ip-adress of the sender of the mail.

    If you did have mail contact with him / her, could you please send me one of those mails so I can check wether they came from the same address? In my case, he contacted me with two different mail-adresses. If so in your case, please send me them both. You can send it to (Personal Information Removed)
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/10/2013
  • Hi Bjorn. The post I thought I had posted did not go through so here we are again: I gave my bank the banking regulations regarding SEPA transfer that require the payee name to be identical to the bank account holder, so that their Legal Dept, as opposed to their Back Office, can contact Barclays; but I have no hope; I read other horror stories on the internet of people who made just 1 mistake with the bank account number, the money went to someone else and they could not recover it.

    Regarding your question on the fraudster emails, I can't see any IP address hidden behind what would be an alias: they used the following addresses: [email protected] (as we know now ...) and in my case [email protected]. I am happy to forward you the email if you tell me where to...

    I estimate that a least 1,000 people fell for that scam. With an average of €2,000 loss per scam, this is €2mm....
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  • Cheryl
  • Cheryl SBID #734d61509a
  • Posted 01/10/2013
  • Mine was [email protected] as well. The other email was [email protected]. Barclays is not being helpful with us either. We are American but live in France. We have filed police reports here, in the UK and the US but I don't think this will do anything. There doesn't seem to be any association, institution etc. to help consumers with such scams. If there was some way for us to make Barclays to give us the contact information behind the account name "AIRBNB Inc", it would be a start to catching these thieves.
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #e838de05ad
  • Posted 01/11/2013
  • Latest answer from my bank. "MY CONTACT AT BARCLAYS HAVE CONFIRMED THAT UNFORTUNATELY THEY ARE UNABLE TO ASSIST ANY FURTHER OR GIVE ANY FURTHER DETAILS. THE ONLY ADVICE THEY CAN OFFER IS FOR THE REMITTER TO CONTACT THEIR LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO REPORT ANY FRAUD."

    I am sure a legal injunction would force Barclays to release more information, and maybe admit negligence to open account to fraudsters. I doubt any of us will do this alone; individually it is not worth the money.

    I am not so much versed in social media, I know this very website is a good point of assembly. If we'd set-up a page on face book perhaps we could start exchanging details on the bank accounts they opened at Barclays (I noticed there were a few different), the money we lost; then bring it to a prosecutor, but which juridiction, or to a consumer association but where, and ask the UK ombudsman to oversee our request to Barclais?

    http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

    If we do it ourselves, it will cost us only time. We can forget about bringing a case to Court...
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/11/2013
  • Ok did homework on how people can fake emails. The scammers used the following website emkei.cz

    The source host name is "emkei.cz" and the source IP address is 46.167.245.118.

    Anyone can do it, it is a trivial exercise.

    The way to find out the real sender of an email is to look into the "email header", all the info is there - in Outlook you need to go into the option tab etc ..
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  • bjorn
  • bjorn SBID #83f1c50b62
  • Posted 01/12/2013
  • I'm one of the owners of a hosting and a online company, so when I have the emails themselves I can have someone trace more info.

    please send them to (Personal Information Removed)

    thx
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  • alex01
  • alex01 SBID #dcf7f43929
  • Posted 01/14/2013
  • Hello all,

    It seems as though many of us got scammed by the same person. Personally our attempted rental from air B&B was under:

    COMFORTABLE LUXURY VILLA CHAMONIX in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc

    From reading the above comments the same situation occured, we sent the funds to Barcklays bank in the UK. We also got the same message from AirB&B that everyone else got. We are currently in the process of finding out possible avenues going forward through our bank in Canada. At first we were interested in possibly pursuing AirB&B for their total lack of safeguards on the sight, but it seems as thoiugh in the terms and conditions on the sight that they are not liable. We are also looking into the possibility of Barcklays being liable but are still waiting for an answer. Any information from any of the posters on possible solutions would be greatly appreaciated.

    kind regards
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/15/2013
  • This is what I gathered

    1. Airbnb is not liable. They have been negligent to the extent this scam has been going on since August 2012 but they have been warning their user community only recently on this issue

    https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/question/199

    which I believe has been posted only recently

    2. Barclays is not liable to have authorised the funds eventhough the intended payee name of the funds ("Airbnb Inc") does not match the account holder. It is a "feature" of today's bank tranfers that only account *numbers* matter, not names. By "feature", I mean this is the reality of payments processed by computers. I checked the Banking regulations #5 of the Deutsche Bundesbank on that matter (I live in Germany) and they seem to say otherwise: a) The account holder must provide the following information for the credit transfer order to be executed: -payee's name, -(...) b) The bank involved in the execution of the order are entitled to execute credit transfer orders solely on the basis of the payee's customer identification details given by the account holder". So I think this is a moot point.

    3. Barclays will not reveal the name of the account holder as per the UK Data protection act. They would only if they receive an injunction from the Court.

    4. I think Barclays is liable for negligence, because it is normally very difficult to open a bank account in the UK without proving your ID; there is a strict Know Your Customer rule in place in the UK.

    What can we do further ?

    1. I open a complain with the UK Ombudsman against Barclays, but this will lead to nothing new, other than the same answer they gave my bank, that they cannot disclose the account holder details under the UK protection act.

    2. I can contact the FSA (Financial Service Authority) but it will help if we can all put together our cases. But most of us have filed a report to the local authorities (police) against the scammer, not against Barclays. This should be the next step.
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  • Paullaz
  • Paullaz SBID #7e80891a59
  • Posted 01/15/2013
  • I spoke to the FSA in the UK. There is nothing they can do. They say it is up to Barclays to choose which client they can deal with, and they referred me to 2 other regulators: the "joint anti money laundering steering group" to complain about Barclays not checking their clients, and to the "information commissioner office (ICO)" to request Barclays to release the name of the account holder (this is the body that regulates data protection, to which the Court should send the injunction).

    It's hopeless.... pretty scary ...
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  • slvstrpoll
  • slvstrpoll SBID #7b60118068
  • Posted 02/01/2013
  • :(( i almost got it too :(( thanks to scambook i saved 2000 EUR! it was too good to be true! i got a different bank account! can you please publish the full history of your communication with these guys + that airnb email that looks genuine! or send it to me at (Personal Information Removed) , i want to publish it in full on my blog !
    sorry for what happend to you!
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    • This Comment was edited by the System Administrator for listing personal information. For a full list of our Terms of Service, please visit: Terms and Conditions

  • Alon
  • Alon SBID #cb5e3e50e0
  • Posted 05/27/2013
  • Paulla,
    thanks for sharing the story.
    my sister has just fallen into the same AIRBNB trap.
    could you please share how did you manage to get compensation from AIRBNB?
    thanks
    Alon
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  • Jackson
  • Jackson SBID #b553fe12bc
  • Posted 05/30/2013
  • To people who have experienced this scam, I'm confused about one point.

    I also used airbnb back in January 2013 and I remember that the reservation payment was made through the www.airbnb.com site itself. And then the host would confirm it on the site and an email would be sent to me that it's confirmed.

    One email from [email protected] after I submit the reservation money, and another one saying confirmed after the host accepts it.

    That's all for me, what made you guys transfer the money to a bank afterwards? Isn't that double-paying?

    Not sure if I'm misunderstanding something.
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  • Jackson
  • Jackson SBID #b553fe12bc
  • Posted 05/30/2013
  • Sorry for double post - and I would assume airbnb is relatively safe since they have a Guest Refund Policy where, if anything seems wrong 24 hours after the check-in date, you can contact airbnb to make the refund?
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  • Lillian
  • Lillian SBID #dbb9d464f2
  • Posted 07/09/2013
  • I have rented an apartment through “Immobilienscout24.de” (web site for rentals in Germany). Because the owner (Frank John) of this apartment lives in London, he wrote me the rental procedure will be made via AirBNB with the thought of using their payment booking procedure. An email, which looked like it was generated by AirBNB was send to my personal email (linked to AirBNB) within 15 minutes of when I requested the booking.
    The email from '[email protected]' was send to my personal email address, which only AirBNB must have got, and this email looked all legit with banking details provided and a AirBNB guarantee included. Bank details:
    ACCOUNT: AirBnb Inc
    SORT CODE: 20-49-17
    ACCOUNT NUMBER: 83191478
    IBAN: GB20BARC20491783191478
    SWIFT CODE/BIC (Bank Identifier Code): BARCGB22
    BANK NAME : BARCLAYS
    Once the money was transferred to this UK bank account from my Deutsche Bank account I received another email 24 hours later from '[email protected]' that they money was received and the booking was confirmed.
    I had already contact with the host (Thomas Stuart) regarding specific property details (email and via the message system of AirBNB). A few days later, after many emails to the host and owner and no answer, I thought it became very suspicious. Contact AirBNB to ask for the opinion, and I was informed by an AirBNB telephone staff; "sorry this is a hoax, we have removed the property from our website, we are sorry". And that’s it, the property listing on AirBNB was removed. The host and the owner do not reply anymore...
    Barclays bank account is used by criminals!
    Barclays Bank should make sure all the accounts under AirBNB name are blocked, sealed and available to refund the victims!
    Barclays Bank is possibly co-defendent in this case since this is a case of a client who acts criminally using their bank. When you open a bank account in the UK, they must do a thorough KYC (Know Your Customer) check.
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  • Lillian
  • Lillian SBID #dbb9d464f2
  • Posted 07/09/2013
  • And this is what I did:
    I sent an eMail to the Compliance Department of Barclays Bank: [email protected]
    I advised my bank (Deutsche Bank) to withdraw my money
    I also sent my story to BBC: [email protected]

    If we try to do anything by our own, it would probably go nowhere ....

    If ALL of us send mails to the Compliance Department of Barclays and to BBC, I think and hope we will get our money back, sooner or later (hopefully sooner!)
    So, everybody, please insist with mails and file charges!
    Good luck to all of us!
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  • patrick
  • patrick SBID #fc583fe760
  • Posted 07/12/2013
  • ive just been done too except from [email protected] which is a legitimate email address. my circumstance is the same except the bank account number and was not from [email protected]. airbnb. airbnb said i made contact and the booking outside of their app so arent liable. Problem i have is the email address. any suggestions (Personal Information Removed) thanks pat
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    • This Comment was edited by the System Administrator for listing personal information. For a full list of our Terms of Service, please visit: Terms and Conditions

  • MR
  • MR SBID #5c81e02da2
  • Posted 10/28/2013
  • I have just fallen victim to the same scam. My case is slightly different. Airbnb removed the fraudulent host but in the process did not inform any of the known customers who were dealing with this host. This means Airbnb was aware of the fraud but failed to inform us even though it had our details on record. They also removed all the communication between us and the host. I then researched the Airbnb website a few days later. I found a similar looking offer. Different host name. I engaged the same fraud started to unfold. Informed Airbnb. It took them 12 hours ! To remove the host and again no information to the customers of the host. Also if I can find a fraudulent host (we now all can!) How is it possible Airbnb (also having the benefit of digital information) cannot? The customer service of Airbnb is extremely frustrating to say the least. Barclays accepted funds that were marked Airbnb.ltd on 23 October 2013!
    • Was this helpful?
  • Sylvia
  • Sylvia SBID #c2c669b546
  • Posted 12/03/2013
  • After contacting the host for this house https://www.airbnb.nl/rooms/2019598 I received an e-mail from the host saying that they would need some info from me and they could contact Airbnb to make the reservation final. When I received a e-mail from AirBnb alarm bells started to ring because the sender was [email protected] and not from @airbnb.com. After some research I found a post (https://www.facebook.com/airbnb/posts/10151914679962458)from somebody else on the Airbnb Facebook page with the exact same request and amount.
    The host goes under the name Eponine Momenceau ([email protected]). The amount they were asking us to transfer was 1190 Euro.

    I e-mailed AirBnb to take action to remove them from the site, but this will probably be temporary because they will go under a different name after this.
    • Was this helpful?
  • Flaky
  • Flaky SBID #dbcbb39fb1
  • Posted 12/12/2013
  • Sylvia.... I cannot believe what you have written! I went on airbnb I think 6 or 7 days ago, still found that Eponine, we were writing and she was nice, offering me the apartment. Than she said we will discuss details through mail and that the payment will go trough airbnb, everything was fine with me. Of course "airbnb" send me e-mail to confirm everything. I did but later had some difficulties in colecting money so fast from so many people. She removed her add at that time and when I asked her why, she said that that is because she is fully booked and that she could rent the house for my period also, so she asked me to be honest about our coming. I wrote to "airbnb" asking them if this is true, and of course they confirmed me that it is, and that Eponine is verified by them. We later colect money, ran to the bank, made a toast-all so happy. And after few hours something inside me was telling me that something isnt right. Checked all the mails, googled for hours, found this page and o my god!! Called the bank first thing NEXT DAY, they sent cancellation to Barcley bank, and they did not repl till afternoon. When they did reply-of course they said that this from now on is an issue between me and their client-if she will return money to me. This all would not be so terrible, if that wasnt my second time I got scamed in one year!! And I am organising my trips for ages. For last scam I know-I could see. But this one is really good, I know that is my fault, that I did not see that Airbnb does not except cash, but I was so busy reading their other policies (in order not to make the same mistake again!!), that i messed up again. The problem here is, that I pay her money on 10.12., and you warned Airbnb on 3.12., so after 5 days they still didnt do nothing (if i count days till the add was removed). We are all in shock. Wrote to Barcley, argue...nothing, they act like they dont even understand what I am saying, wrote to police-the same morning, telling them that a froud is
    • Was this helpful?
  • Flaky
  • Flaky SBID #dbcbb39fb1
  • Posted 12/12/2013
  • going on right now, and they said i should first make a report, than they will investigate... and since this isnt a first time for me, I did not file a report yet, because i am still waiting for their investigation from one year ago and nothing. Cannot understand how they could be so arrogant, because in this case-they could prevent this, because I found out that the same day after transfering money.

    I think it would be a really good idea that we all step together and demand rights from Barcley, from police, from Airbnb. Maybe together we can achieve something, but this money is something we will not see again i believe;(
    • Was this helpful?
  • Simon
  • Simon SBID #e55b7d85c7
  • Posted 01/15/2014
  • You know its horrible to read about all these experiences you have faced but the minute you decide to leave the site and pay off site then you lose protection. Stay onsite that's what the online payment system is for
    • Was this helpful?
  • racho
  • racho SBID #fd7a009fa8
  • Posted 01/20/2014
  • hello flaky i would be really interested to hear about you scam experience withairbnb. please could you private message me asap to discuss your story!!!
    • Was this helpful?
  • François-Xavier
  • François-Xavier SBID #15367b4d55
  • Posted 08/04/2014
  • A friend of mine just reported to me he faced the exact same issue and eventually he got full refund + lawer's fee from Airbnb after suing them. It happened in France S1 2014.
    • Was this helpful?

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