Had a interesting incident yesterday. We have a small village shop and have a small self contained holiday cabin to the rear. It's only booked via air BnB.
Man turns up and says "I've a booking for the next 5 nights" - he doesn't as our calendar is blocked out until the 12th April (when we are legally allowed to take bookings) and we'd had no info or request for any booking until after the 12th. Turns out he'd booked through Booking .com (which we aren't on)..... and had paid £630 for the next 5nights. Someone had used one of our photos from Airbnb (interior shot) and an address down the road (the church) to set up a fake booking .com account. They'd used the mobile number from a Manchester gym.
He'd only managed to find out where our Airbnb is in the village by asking a local, and had been wondering around the church looking for it as there are no directions on the booking .com listing. In fact its completly sparse of any info at all.....
I'd a queue building up in the shop now and had confirmed he'd been scammed, when I mentioned he's not allowed to travel/holiday under current restrictions he legged it - embarrassed he'd been scammed.....
Only managed to grab the booking .com mobile number associated with the listing as I'd tried phoning it when he was in the shop.
The listing is no longer on booking .com......
Good (but potentially short lived) scam too as he maybe reluctant to go to coppers assuming his reason for being away from home was questionable.
A not very well off couple I know got done by a fake holiday caravan advert last year. More basic than yours, was just a Facebook listing, they are too trusting.
Double bummer was before the scam was bubbled, they asked if they could extend the break from a long weekend to a full week, which can, of course be accommodated! 😒
There was a TV show about this scam on AirBnB. I suppose that booking is just an extension of this.
Yes he was particularly embarrassed when I said he shouldn't be going anywhere on holiday at the moment and it was illegal.....
Looking at the info he was given about the property I wouldn't have had the confidence in the situation to book - he'd also had no or little communication from who ever he had handed the £630 too....
Similar to the phone and text scams, they make it so obviously crap so that anyone who starts the process is unlikely to work out they’re being conned...
Similar to the phone and text scams, they make it so obviously crap so that anyone who starts the process is unlikely to work out they’re being conned…
This is the devious, even cruel bit. It filters out the non naive and preys on the vulnerable.
I double check accommodation with a separate Google search even if going through a reputable broker.
I double check accommodation with a separate Google search even if going through a reputable broker.
+1
Plus read the reviews - are they over a reasonable time period, different people etc.