October 19, 2024, 6:28 am | Read time: 2 minutes
There are many offers, but also some traps: online scammers use accommodation platforms for fraud attempts. Airbnb is no exception. This is when you should be alert.
Finding a suitable vacation home with the Airbnb booking platform quickly leads to a certain amount of booking euphoria. However, you should not be naive and beware of possible fraud when booking via Airbnb.
This is how fraud on Airbnb works
You should be particularly careful if you are supposed to contact the alleged landlord by email, as the contact via Airbnb supposedly does not work. The consumer protection portal “Watchlist Internet” warns that this could be a scam.
According to the portal, anyone who responds to the email will receive the reply that the accommodation is available but that there are technical problems with the Airbnb calendar. You are then asked to continue the booking on the booking portal Booking.com and are sent a link. However, this does not lead to the real Booking.com page, but to a fake page that is a deceptively real replica of the real page.
How to recognize the fraud
You can only recognize it by the Internet address (URL), which differs from the real one and starts with “booking.stays”, for example, as Watchlist Internet writes.
The tricky thing is that the personal data is already entered on the fake page, so all you have to do is initiate the transfer – but if you do this, the money goes straight to the fraudsters.
What helps against fraud?
The scam makes it clear: you should only book accommodation directly via the platform, for example via Airbnb. The request to contact a landlord by email and the redirection to other platforms indicate fraud.
To be on the safe side, Watchlist Internet recommends checking the accommodation by searching on Google Maps. If inconsistencies are found, caution is advised. It is also worth searching for the accommodation on Booking.com beforehand. If you can’t find it there or if the details differ, you should leave it alone. Another option is to contact Booking.com or Airbnb directly and ask whether it is a normal booking process.
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What to do in an emergency
If money has already been transferred, you should act quickly: Contact your bank, and, if still possible, block the transfer. Also report the incident to Airbnb and file a complaint with the police. You can also do this online at the relevant online police station.
With material from dpa