Tag Archives: Airbnb scam

Host misrepresented himself and Airbnb didn’t give me a full refund

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I’m a long time user of Airbnb and have had no problems using them up until now. This last instance has totally soured me on the experience. The lack of help and support that I have received from their customer service makes me never want to use them again.

I was travelling to Montreal for Canada Day weekend and had booked a two-bedroom apartment for $700. While driving from Toronto to Montreal, we received a call from our host indicating that she couldn’t host us anymore due to flooding. I then went back and forth with customer service on the phone trying to find a suitable alternative. I had to find a similar place at the last minute on a high demand weekend and the $350 credit they gave me didn’t cover the extra cost at all.

I finally thought I had found a suitable location based on the recommendation from Airbnb’s customer service. It was $1500, which was a lot more than what I had wanted to pay, but it met all the requirements. About five minutes after booking I received a call from the new host. He then told me that if I wanted to stay at his place I would have to pay an extra 15% in cash on top of what I booked because of Montreal property taxes. This is not true at all; I stay in Montreal all the time and no one has ever charged me this.

The place I wanted to book was not available since it was new and the host said he had an alternative place at which I could stay. There was no way I was going to give this guy an extra 15% payment for a place that I knew nothing about. I called Airbnb customer service to cancel this booking because this did not seem right at all. I was in the process of cancelling this booking with an agent but the phone connection cut and it wasn’t finished.

I had to book a new location quickly because I was almost in Montreal and I still didn’t have a place to stay. I proceeded to book a new Airbnb for the weekend. Based on my original conversation with customer service I thought I was going to be able to cancel that Airbnb with the individual that was misrepresenting himself, but I found out that he had a very strict cancellation policy and after talking to customer service Airbnb would only give me a partial refund of $514.

I was literally booked with this guy for an hour and I would have stayed there had he not tried to hit me up for an additional 15% and had it been at the actual place he was advertising. The next day I argued this point with customer service but apparently it’s totally okay for their hosts to do this and that they would see what they could do. I’ve tried contacting Airbnb since then but they keep on telling me that the case manager is the one I need to speak with and that I have to wait for her to call me back. I never receive a return call probably because they just want me to get fed up and pay.

Want my Refund after Airbnb Double Billed me

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On April 30th, 2018 I made reservations for an apartment in Scottdale, Pennsylvania. I then paid the fee of $1,400. Unfortunately, Airbnb double-billed me. Using my bank and customer service from Airbnb, I was able to obtain $1,400 back for my double billing. This meant I had only paid for one reservation for June 27th. On that day I called the host to obtain the keypad number. She informed me that my reservation had been cancelled on May 22nd. I then proceeded to call Airbnb; they reiterated that my reservation had been cancelled. After numerous attempts -approximately 23 – and numerous customer services representatives, they indicated that I was in fault and therefore did not deserve a refund. Finally after insurmountable attempts, I was told that everything was resolved and I would be given a full refund and an additional 10% or $180 for my inconvenience. I have not received a full refund.

Airbnb Property Fraud, Long Con Scam in London

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I would like to report that my husband and I were just victims of an elaborate property fraud here in London by a long con Airbnb scammer. We lost our entire apartment deposit and what we thought to be our lovely new London flat we had been working for months to save money for and were preparing to move into this Monday, April 30th. I really want to make other consumers and families looking for new apartments aware of the potential dangers and get our story published to raise consumer awareness. It’s shocking what happened; I’ve never heard of such a thing.

As far as I can gather from police and what has happened so far, the situation is as follows. We saw a property advertised on Gumtree in our zone in London when we were looking for a new flat to rent for this year. We contacted the advertised “landlord” via phone to chat and set up a time to view the property for rent. We went the next evening in person to see the apartment after work for a walk through viewing. All seemed normal: there was a man who met us, and showed other couples through after us. Nothing seemed off. We even went back a second time for a second viewing.

We spoke to the “landlord” a few more times. He created a tenancy agreement. I had him amend several clauses on the rental agreement before we all signed the final agreed tenancy agreement. We sent over the bank transfer deposit for the property. We received an emailed receipt. We were told he would contact us a few days before the move in date to hand over keys and do a final walk through.

All seemed fine and normal until this week when my husband was unable to reach the landlord all week. Getting concerned, we walked to the flat – it’s in our local zone – to knock on the front door. A couple answered and said they were staying there until today, Saturday, April 28th, renting it via Airbnb. They told us the name that they had been given for the “host” who rented it to them, which was a different name than what we had been given as the landlord’s name for the property, the person who had showed us physically inside of the flat, drawn up our tenancy agreement, and taken our deposit.

We went home and found the property advertised on Airbnb by the host’s name (name now changed in Airbnb, I noticed) the couple had given us. I logged into my current Airbnb account in order to chat with the “host.” At first I thought maybe everything was still okay, and that the landlord would still contact us as I saw the flat was marked as not for rent at all after Saturday except for three days in May (which was odd, because we were supposed to be moving in Monday, April 30th).

I was hoping it was an error on the part of whoever was temporarily renting it out on behalf of the landlord on Airbnb. The host’s bio on Airbnb said he was a professional property manager. I saw 22 other listings, so I thought maybe it was a company. Wanting to investigate further, I asked if the property was still for rent. The host said it was, and told me to go ahead and book the dates in May. I asked for his phone number; he refused unless I confirmed the booking. I then asked for address confirmation, and the “host” gave me another post code, which was for another address, so that all seemed immediately alarming and suspicious given we were supposed to move in this upcoming Monday.

We phoned our bank immediately, and sure enough, the bank details we had been given weren’t even for the same bank name. Our hearts sank. We reported the fraud to the bank and started preparing for the next preventative steps. I decided to return the next evening after work to the flat. We again knocked on the front door of the apartment. The current Airbnb guests said they had called their host who agreed to let us have his phone number.

We called the host and he said he was a manager from a property management company called Prime Estate Agents, and his company had been managing the property for years. He claimed that one of his tenants at the property had conducted the scam, and had also taken deposits from other couples as well. He said although he was willing to cooperate with the police, he would give me no further information. However, I was welcome to visit his realty office.

When I went to see him yesterday, he was extremely evasive, would not answer questions about why he gave me a different property address and name when I had chatted with him via Airbnb. All he said was that there were multiple other victims in the scam, and that my lease was not valid even though the landlord’s name listed on the lease agreement was the correct one. He claimed anyone could find out this information via land registry. He would give me no details about who it was that had the keys from the rental agency on that night/stayed there via Airbnb booking, just said it was one of their tenants, and that they would not give any more information unless it was to the police.

Airbnb has not helped me at all, the property company says its not their responsibility, our bank says we cannot get money back unless the criminal’s account still has money in it, and now we have no flat to move into. The police said they may or may not investigate, and we are left with no deposit or flat, and no one that will help us. This has been a heart wrenching experience, and I hope by sharing this that maybe others can avoid such potential scams. We have been living in London less than a year and worked saving money for this flat, and are left speechless after this. Also, I believe this professional property company is breaking council and tax laws by renting full houses out not properly zoned for extended periods of time.

Fake Host Tries to Use Airbnb for Rental Scam

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I posted an ad on Gumtree that me and my partner were looking for somewhere to rent privately. I was a little confused when I received an email from a guy in Germany. He thanked me for my interest in his property (I’d never seen it) and sent me some photos to review. He said he was a live-out landlord from Germany and wanted someone to take over his property and make it his own.

I should have questioned where he got my work email from (the ad I had posted on Gumtree was via my personal account). He asked for some personal details about myself. I replied with a fairly lengthy message stating I like to knit, don’t really party, and am a clean, reliable person, etc. He told me the all in rent PCM (per calendar month) was £600. I was already thinking this was too good to be true: a place in the centre of town, less than I currently pay for my room in shared accommodation, all bills included, a parking space included, etc. All the other places like this I had been viewing were double the price.

He told me that as he is in Germany he cannot show me the apartment beforehand. He said I must pay one month’s rent plus a two-month security deposit, and to do it through Airbnb as they allow me to cancel my booking up until the day I check in/move in. I asked him for details on the tenancy agreement, and apparently he could not send me anything without my ID, full address, etc. He said after I moved into the apartment he would send a signed contract and a spare key.

I kind of kept this going to see how far this person would go. I had no intention of renting this property and sending a stranger £1800 without first viewing an apartment. I have forwarded this to a number of scamming sites and reported it to Gumtree but the ad is still left up as live. I’m not sure what else to do. Maybe posting on here will help. Email thread below.

[Editor’s Note: grammatical errors left intentionally so you can have a better idea of the writing style of scammers]

“Host”: Thank you for taking the time to look at my property. I am a civil engineer, originally from Germany. I bought the apartment with bank credit 5 years ago for our child who went at college there, but this year he finish the college and moved back to Germany because he has found a better job here in Germany and now we have to rent it to pay the remaining credit to the bank. I am looking for a responsible person that can take a very good care of my apartment. I am not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean all the time and the possible tenant will see the apartment as his or her own and I hope that you can send me some personal information about yourself.

Me: Many thanks for getting in touch, glad to hear from you. Your apartment looks lovely – thanks for sending over some photos. I see we both work in the electronics field. To tell you a little about myself; I moved to Brighton just over three years ago for my current job as a Recruitment Consultant based in Central Brighton. For the past three years I have lived in rented shared accommodation (always through private landlords as I prefer to have direct contact) and am now looking for a flat with my partner to move in together. I have been working in recruitment for around seven years now, hold a senior position within my company, and can provide proof of earnings if needed.

In my current flat, my roommates and I have total management of the property – our landlord lives abroad in France so we are in charge if anything needs fixing, etc. My partner and I are extremely clean people and have never once had a complaint from living in shared housing for the past three years. I have only lived at my current flat for just over a year and have already paid to have a professional cleaner and carpet cleaners come in during my time there at my own cost, just to freshen the place up.

As a person, I enjoy doing crafts (knitting, painting, sewing) and my partner is a musician and plays in a local Brighton band. I am a working professional so we don’t “party” during the week or anything like that. One of the reasons we are looking to move out of shared accommodation is because we would prefer a quieter space for ourselves. I am able to provide references from previous and current landlords if required, or feel free to let me know if you have any other questions. I have a few questions:

• Where exactly is the flat located?
• How much is rent/bills per month?
• What is the minimum/maximum tenancy you are looking for?
• When are you looking for someone to move in?

“Host”: The apartment (1 living room / 1 kitchen / 1 Baths / 1 bedroom with king bed, 1 parking spot) is located on ______, Brighton. The apartment is fully furnished with all necessary amenities (it’s exactly like in the pics). I’m sure that you will love it. It has dishwasher, washing machine, air conditioning and clothes dryer. The rent of the flat for 1 month is £600 including all utilities (water, electricity, Internet, cable, parking, garbage, tv) and two months security deposit £1,200. I am looking for someone to rent anywhere from three months to three years or more.

Obviously we need a way to complete this deal in a safe and fast way for both since I am in Germany and i can’t show you the apartment. The solution is provided by a company called “Airbnb” (www.airbnb.co.uk) which will handle the payment of the first month and the security deposit. I guess you heard about Airbnb. They are the largest and most secure site for rents. I chose Airbnb because you send the money to them and you can cancel your booking any time until check in date (https://www.airbnb.com/home/cancellation_policies) and Airbnb will send your money back. Let me know if you are interested because I really need to take care of this matter as soon as possible.

Me: Thank you for getting back to me, the place really does look ideal. I have searched for the address on Google Maps but it brings me to Lloyd’s Bank on North Street. Do you have any outside photos of the property or a link to an online advertisement? When are you looking for someone to move in by? I will need to give notice on my current apartment. I am familiar with Airbnb but only for making short term/holiday bookings. Will there be a chance to view the apartment beforehand?

“Host”: If you are ready to proceed with this transaction I must tell you how this service works and what we need to do. You have to pay the first month of rent £600 and 2 months security deposit of £1.200 (total £ 1,800) to Airbnb (after first month you will pay directly to me in my bank account), after you book the apartment from Airbnb I will send you the keys via UPS (2 days urgent delivery) and then you can go to see the apartment. If you decide not to rent the apartment, Airbnb will refund your money back in the same day but I’m sure that you will love it because it is like in the photos. If you like the apartment Airbnb will send me the money only after you check in (move), in the apartment. So you can put the checkin date the end of this month so you have time to decide if you keep the apartment or not. After you move in the apartment I will send to you the contract signed by me and a backup key. Let me know if you are interested because I really need to take care of this matter by the end of this week.

Me: Thank you for getting back to me. Everything really does sound lovely but unfortunately I am too wary to send over that amount of money without first being able to view the apartment / without anything tangible to show that this apartment is for rent. Do you have a copy of your tenancy agreement? I also still need to give notice on my current flat, so wont be in a position to move immediately.

“Host”: In order to make the contract I will need a copy of your id and your full address. You don’t have any reason to worry because you can cancel your booking any time until the check in date and Airbnb will refund your money back. You will send the money to Airbnb, not to me and I will receive the money from them after the check in date.

Dream Paris Vacation Turned into Airbnb Nightmare

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My family and I (including our infant son) took a trip in September 2017 to Paris using money we’d been saving for a vacation for over two years. While we were in Paris, we experienced a taste of the terrible experiences that Airbnb has to offer, and a taste was more than enough.

Our first reservation was with a listing that had 42 four- and five-star reviews and was hosted by a French lady. We arrived in Paris around 10:30 AM after traveling almost 24 fours with a tiny baby. The host knew when we would arrive, had our flight details, and told us to call her when we landed. We called her three times with no answer. We went to get a taxi. She finally called us back, said something in French, and hung up on us.

A few minutes later her associate called us back and told us she was busy and to call when we were ten minutes away from the apartment. We called three times from the cab when we were ten minutes away. There was no answer; we left messages. The cab driver dropped us off. We waited ten minutes in the cold with our luggage and the baby before her associate called us back. She finally came after we’d been waiting fifteen minutes in front of her building in the rain.

Once we finally got in to the listing, absolutely everything was covered in mold and the fumes from it gave us instant headaches. This wasn’t safe for our baby so we weren’t going to stay there. We contacted the host via the Airbnb platform and called customer service. Airbnb had trouble verifying my account because their site hadn’t correctly synced my new email address that I changed via Facebook (I signed up for the service originally via Facebook and had never given an email directly to Airbnb).

We quickly found their apartment was full of bugs. Once the customer service representative finally explained a way to verify the email (after twenty minutes of talking) we were successfully verified. He said he would email me so I could reply with the picture evidence of the mold. It took me thirty seconds to find the mold in every room of the apartment. It was on all the curtains, and there was thick black mold in the blinds in the bathroom, water damage in the kitchen, and mold on the bedroom wall. There was no way I was going to spend any time in the apartment with my baby.

Airbnb said they would email us within five minutes. We waited but didn’t receive an email. I called back after ten minutes as we were taking all our suitcases out of the apartment. The representative explained he hadn’t emailed us yet because he was busy on another call, but would email us within five minutes so we could send him the mold pictures. We never received that email, and didn’t get help finding a new place to stay after that first moldy one. My husband, ten-month-old baby and I were sitting with eight suitcases and bags on the street of Paris, shivering in the rain, and trying to figure out where we could go next. We felt stranded, unsafe, extremely unsupported, and very concerned.

We left a review of this listing but it has yet to be posted. It makes me really not trust Airbnb. If I was looking at this place to rent I would really want to know that someone had problems with mold there. It seems like Airbnb censors reviews.

In our study (which I’ll get to) we also found many other reports of censored reviews including some a horrible case that involved sexual assault; Airbnb allegedly told the women that this had nothing to do with the property so it was not part of their policy to allow the review. We were stupid enough to take our chances with Airbnb again, thinking the first experience must have been a fluke.

The next experience was worse: after climbing six flights of stairs with all our bags twice, we got scammed by a shady host with multiple listings for the same property who canceled our reservation in order to force us to pay in cash off the platform. The property was extremely dingy and crappy with a broken bed and broken shower. We felt very trapped. The host managed to convince us to give him a cash deposit for that night and we had to agree since we had no other choice and no place to go.

We contacted Airbnb again and they told us we should leave the scam listing and go to a different Airbnb. They recommended we move to another nearby listing hosted by the same scammer. How bad could their customer service be if they’re recommending we move to another apartment in the same building by the same scam artis?

After a small amount of looking, we found that this host has multiple accounts with different names and the same listing photos over and over. To top it all off, my husband’s credit card information was stolen when he logged in to the wifi at this Airbnb listing after booking a hotel in order for us to escape the scammer. Because it was extremely unrealistic to find another available, clean Airbnb listing that late at night (and how could we trust an Airbnb listing again after the last two were dangerous and nothing like their pictures?), we were out of luck again. That night we were forced to stay in this scam place and got not a wink of sleep due to the broken bed, loud drunken neighbors, and our poor son crying in discomfort.

The next day we ended up having to fork out huge amounts of extra money and all of our 200,000 airline miles (equivalent to $3,000) to pay for a last-minute hotel in a safe neighborhood. In the space of a few days we experienced Airbnb scams, last-minute host cancellations, hosts not showing up, dangerous conditions at a listing, extremely poor customer service, broken promises made by Airbnb (they still haven’t given us our full refund, and it’s six months later), tech failures of the site and app, and failures of Airbnb’s policies to protect its guests all in one trip.

When my husband and I got home we had to ask: is Airbnb safe? This led us to do an in-depth (self-funded) research study (with the help of a PhD in user research) surrounding Airbnb and the experiences shared by over 1,000 other guests. We learned that 3% to 7% of stays go wrong (which means millions of people have problems) and that their customer service is absolutely terrible.

Most importantly, we found that Airbnb allows anyone to be a host, including convicted felons. Even after being “permanently banned,” hosts can just go ahead and create a new account under a different name. It only takes ten minutes and it’s completely unregulated, as there’s nothing in place to verify hosts’ identities – no ID requirement, and they don’t even have to use real names.

If you would like to read our article and our published study, you can find it on our website here. We also have a video exposing the scammer who got us and we have documented four different Airbnb accounts of his which were created within six weeks, all using the same listing photos. In this video we also show examples in London and New York of multiple accounts listing the same property. It took us less than ten minutes to find just these few examples, which leads us to believe that Airbnb is full of such scams.

First and Last Time: Don’t Host for Airbnb

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I’m a first and last time host for Airbnb. Long story short: I never received any funds for the guest staying at my home. Each and every time it came time to pay, there was an “error” and “a support specialist will be in touch in regards to your payment” which never happened. It wasn’t until I notified one of my current guests who is staying inside my apartment what was going on and to ask for a refund for his money – I still allowed him to stay; wasn’t going to put someone out due to the scam Airbnb was running – did I receive a call back.

They ended up deleting my host account before I could confirm the man would get his refund. I recorded the conversation as I usually do when conducting business with strangers. Airbnb has been allowing guests to book at my properties since January. Here we are in February and I haven’t seen one red cent yet. Mind you the account for direct deposit I’ve provided is the same account my employer pays me in but somehow Airbnb can never confirm any checking information given. I’ve reported them to the Better Business Bureau and advise anyone else who has endured this type of ordeal to do the same so we can get them out of the market. They’re scamming people left and right.

Too Far? How I Taught Airbnb and Scammers a Lesson

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My very negative experience with Airbnb has turned into an amusing evening. I rent out my two-bedroom apartment in the center of Barcelona for just 35 Euro per day (yeah, that’s correct, in January the off-season price is that low). I had guests from Turkey who were supposed to stay for three days. On the last day of their stay, they found out that the bathroom curtain was damp. That’s correct – it turned out that the bathroom curtain was humid after three days of their stay.

Airbnb sent me an email that the guests were “experiencing some serious issues with their stay and they need my urgent assistance”. They gave me a 30-minute deadline to reply to them. I noticed that email in 40 minutes and at that point the reservation was already cancelled on my behalf with a full refund. The Airbnb case manager wrote me that everything was okay, and the guests were willing to continue their stay (obviously for free). I asked them to explain the background of their decision, but as usual they just ignored my messages (they always do so when they rip off the host; no one answers your messages and calls and nobody cares anymore).

Then I got really mad and I sent a message to the guests asking if they had already checked out. What did they reply after staying for almost three days (it was a late evening already) in my flat? They told me that they were going to stay a little longer and they would let me know once they wanted to check out. I headed to the flat hoping to face these impudent motherf*&%ers.

When I entered the flat, there was no one inside. All their stuff was still inside, so they really decided to continue staying in my flat for free and enjoy their vacation. I grabbed all their stuff and gave it out to the homeless people on the street. By the way, they were very thankful to me. One of those homeless women was also kind enough to tell me that there was a passport in the jacket I gave to her. I checked the passport and noticed that he had no visa to stay in Europe and in fact the guest was here illegally. What a gift of fate. I passed his passport through a shredder as it was not valid.

Furthermore, I also changed the locks in my flat as they had the keys with them, so they were afterwards unable to enter the flat. When I returned home, I noticed tons of messages from Airbnb support. Finally, for some reason, they decided to reply to me. The support agent begged me to open the door for the guests and let them take their stuff.

Which guests did they mean? According to my payout statistics, I had no guests at that point. I had to reply to Airbnb that since I had no current reservations, I was unable to help them and of course I would not let some strangers into my apartment.

They first promised to pay me for one night, then they promised to pay me for the entire reservation. Of course, that was very kind of them, but I could not accept the money for the reservation I never had. Airbnb threatened that they would involve the police and of course I supported this idea. The guests went to the police station, and obviously the police officer called me to ask for my permission to open the door to these guests, which of course I didn’t give. The photo shows you what a passport of a bad tourist looks like.

Airbnb’s Unfairness Leaves me without Answers

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I booked and paid twice with Airbnb, then both of my bookings were cancelled by the hosts without an explanation from them or Airbnb. I got my money back those times but my third host was a scammer. I know I should be more careful, but after two cancellations I was desperate to find a property in London for my family at the busy time of year.

My host approved my booking and was recommended as a good host by Airbnb. He claimed he had flats in London and Florence, but he was totally a scammer. Before I sent all the documents verifying this to Airbnb, they closed my case and my questions were not answered:

1. What procedures do you take to determine if hosts are good?
2. Do you have proof of the existence of your hosts’ properties, the identity of those hosts, and their contact information?
3. Did you really think my host was a good host to recommend to me?
4. Can you contact my host on my behalf?

I wrote here because I asked these questions but Airbnb closed my case with auto-reply emails. I tried to write the Airbnb trust and safety team back, but my emails were blocked by them and my negative comments on Facebook were blocked. That’s why so little negativity is shown on their Facebook page.

One way communication makes me feel bad. It is so unfair. Airbnb approved my host and now said he was a scammer, mentioning they are not responsible for any money loss or fraudulent information being circulated around Airbnb as well as outside the platform. Airbnb helped these criminals when they were recommended on a public site, and are still doing it. Can you really say Airbnb is not responsible?

Police suspect these scammers get inside help because; Airbnb didn’t even deny this when I asked. As upset as we were, the day of check-in, December 28th, 2017 in London, we waited for a return phone call from a supervisor at Airbnb’s customer help desk to help us to find an alternative property in London. They promised me twice over the phone and we waited three hours in a café in central London while checking other sites. We didn’t get any calls from them and all we got was an auto-reply email three days later.

We had to book an alternative place to stay through Booking.com and spend extra to buy a same day check-in. Airbnb promising something it couldn’t deliver was more upsetting. We also saw another young couple were waiting to get in to the property. How many more people will get scammed because of false recommendations by Airbnb? I hope they reconsider their system errors, and give some support and proper answers to me and my family after all this irresponsible service.

Airbnb Hell Prevents Property Agent Scam in Munich

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I’m posting this because thanks to a similar post from this website I just avoided being scammed. I’m a Spanish student about to start an internship in Munich, a city well known for its accomodation shortage, especially for students. Searching for flats I came across the following property. The host seemed to answer all of my emails really quick and had no problem with the duration of my stay. I showed interest and the conversation went as follows:

Hello,

Thank you for your answers. You can rent the apartment how long you want, My children are at school here and I don’t have plans to move again in Germany. Last week I took two days off from my job and came to show the apartment to a person that was interested in renting it. When I arrived there, he called me and said that he was no longer interested in my apartment. I have lost money and time.

So, in this case we can use Airbnb. Here is a brief description of the process: they will send an agent, and you will visit the apartment in his presence. You will be able to sign the contract with them. They will also handle the money and the documents so both of us will be protected and secured. You will not pay any additional commission or other taxes. The total amount that you will have to pay will be: 1 month in advance, 500 EUR warranty + 720 EUR = 1220 EUR.

To continue this transaction through Airbnb you must to send me these details: complete name and address of the future tenant; direct telephone number (mobile); I also need a copy of your ID or passport to complete the lease agreement After you give me your details I will forward them to Airbnb to make the reservation on your name. They will send an email to confirm your booking details.

Finally, you will get an invoice to make the deposit in their bank account to show your interest and provide assurance. After the company receives the deposit confirmation they will send a designated agent with the keys and the documents. The agent will arrange the visit with you if you decide to rent the apartment. If you refuse the apartment, you are fully refunded the same day. I am under contract with the company and they offer the best security methods available.

I await your answer because I have other tenants interested in the flat.

Of course the website in which her appartment was listed was not the official Airbnb website, but a really good fake. So good that I almost took the bait. Here is the link to the fake Airbnb listing, please take into account this is not the official Airbnb site.

Notice how close the layout is to the real thing. Especially for people who do not use Airbnb that much and are not used to the official site, it can do the trick and provide this fake sense of security. It indeed said that she was a verified hostess: there was a picture of her, and comments from fake previous tenants. When I went on the real Airbnb website I of course could not find her apartment.

Just letting everybody out there know that you always have to double check accommodation in cities such as Munich, especially if you are are a student. I hope this helped someone and screwed those scammers.