I booked a verified listing that was an amazing apartment near Central Park in New York City. The host contacted me with information on how to receive the keys, and asked about my stay and how he could help with suggestions. After arriving at the “place” only to find that the building had been torn down (the police said three years ago…), I was effectively stranded with nowhere to go; we had to book the only hotel we could find available for $500. When we called Airbnb, we were put on hold for over 20 minutes to finally be told they would refund the amount that we paid. When I insisted they pay for the hotel bill that night, they refused saying they would book us in another Airbnb. When I asked them how they would verify that that building was not demolished either, they had no response…
This is a complete joke of a verification process. At least drive by the building to see if it is still there before allowing scammers to post fake listings. One of the customer service agents agreed to pay a portion of the hotel bill, which I have yet to receive…
Hi daniel, the thing is with yours is you contcted him through private email and wired him with the cash, that has nothing to do with airbnb. Always contact and pay through the sites or you wont get protected.
I got scammed two days ago due to a fake listing. Airbnb is refusing to refund my loss/damage. Did you paid through the website or also like me with wire transfer? As soon as I emailed the host I received fake emails aking me to fake websites. Airbnb says that this is mynown fault but they had a fake listing in the first place misleading me to contact the scammers with my private email. If airbnb would have checked their listings this would never have happened!!!