My husband and I own a house out of state that has been vacant and on the market for over a year. Last night our neighbors contacted us to notify us there were multiple cars and motorcycles parked in our driveway with a party going on inside. After investigation by the police we found out our house had been listed on Airbnb by an unknown host. We have never rented our home nor given any individual permission to list our home for rent.
There were pictures attached to the Airbnb posting from Zillow as well as cell phone pictures taken from outside our home looking through windows and glass doors to the inside as well as pictures taken from inside of our home. The renters showed the police their rental confirmation. The police were relatively uninterested because they said this happens all the time, that fake listings are put up and people show up and can’t get in. In this case, these people had been given instructions to access our home.
We have contacted Airbnb through several methods and been told that this will be addressed by the appropriate team. We’ve asked the call center operator to speak with a supervisor and she hung up. There is clearly no sense of urgency on the part of Airbnb in assisting us with finding the person who is still out there who knows how to access our home.
Rental scams are common where they start on the Airbnb website then the guests are lured to pay away from the Airbnb platform so the actual booking doesn’t occur on Airbnb.
Airbnb can remove the listing but since the booking wasn’t made on their platform there is not much else they can do. They will not have the info on who booked; only who inquired about it.
If Airbnb gives you contact info for who posted the listing, it probably won’t lead you to them. Scammers have gotten savvy about get the money & disappear.
Can you get the renter’s contact info from the police report? The renter may can tell you how they communicated with the scammer host.
The fact the guests gained access is especially concerning. Since your home was on the market, a lot of people had access to the key box.
A house on the market for a year? The housing market is crazy in most areas right now. Where is your listing?
If Airbnb hasn’t removed the listing, you may with to contact them via Airbnb Help accounts on Twitter & Facebook.
Unreal! Yet another sorry tale from Airbnb (which will do little or nothing to help). Hope you get it sorted!