It’s quite some time a trivial scam, run by a bunch of Russian morons, has been targeting Airbnb hosts worldwide. I first came across it in January 2020 when the idiots tried their luck on me. I then was asked to communicate with them on Telegram. Since I understood right away that it was an aspiring fraud, I did contact them in order to carry out this good piss-take on them. Ever since, I have been again reached by them a number of additional times, but since I was busy, I simply ignored them and reported them on Airbnb, who quickly took down their fake accounts. Upon their most recent attempt, they asked me to get back to them on Whatsapp this time (of course, spelling out their number in letters). I decided to get in touch with them again, have some fun, and – this time trying to be a bit more serious than the previous time – try to obtain some of their personal details.
The initial inquiry I received on Airbnb came from a reviewless and pictureless, seedy account, registered by the name Idiplnv, and read as follows:
Good morning, i just looked your appartments and i got couple questions to you, can you write to me in watsap. + sevenn ninee s1x tthree thhree twoo zerro onne n1ne foour thrree
(Apparently, the Airbnb algorithm has begun spotting spelled-out telephone numbers as well; that’s why they deliberately have misspelled all the digits – not that they could make a career as a proofreader, leave that aside.)
I headed over to Whatsapp and added them…
I wrote to them:
Hello Idiplnv! Thanks a lot for your interest in my apartment. Yeah, sure, feel free to ask me anything you need to know.
Although they were constantly online (I wonder, do people really answer to them?), I didn’t hear from them for about a day. I pressed on:
Hi, are you still interested in the apartment?
And then I finally got my answer:
Hello! I have a great offer for you! The fact is that the company pays for me accommodation. The offer is this, I will book your accommodation, but I will not come to your apartment. A certain percentage of the reservation you leave yourself. I will book for a long time about a month. We can cooperate for a long time and on good conditions. For example, you book accommodation for 1000 euros, of this amount you take 30% for yourself, send my part to me through IBAN, Pay Pal or another money transfer service. At the same time, I will not live with you. This is a great quarantine and virus deal in the world.
Thanks a lot for the proposition, really appreciate it. It sounds like a great quarantine and virus deal indeed. I am interested. Okay, go ahead, you can book my place and as soon as I collect the payment I will send you 70% of it. That’s how it works, correct?
All right
There is another important point for me. You must send me my money after receiving from airbnb
Just letТs first discuss how you can send me my share?
Yes sure, of course I will do that. Iban bank transfer would be the easiest for me.
Ok
give me a link to your host
very small price can you raise? or put a surcharge for the guest
I can raise the price for you for one particular period, say July 2021. How much do you want it to be?
Here I of course didn’t want to keep my listing blocked for real bookings on near dates.
Why do I need July 21?
raise for august this year
It’s because I may be having a real booking in August, keeping all the money for it, was contacted by that dude who may reserve it. Isn’t it the same if you book for later dates? You’re not going to come anyway, right?
August is already booked anyway, I don’t have availability until autumn. Now I think about it better, it may make more sense for you to book in the winter when I don’t get bookings anyway. How about February? I will of course send you your share in advance, right after the booking is confirmed.
why i want for August, well, of course, usually the host receives money from arbnb the next day after check-in
so the faster the check-in, the faster I will receive the money)
I can’t wait until winter to get money)
I know that host receives money one day after check in, but as long as the booking is confirmed, the payment is secured for the guest to receive in its due time. I will pay to you your share as soon as the booking is confirmed. I don’t mind getting my share later since I’m going to get it anyway. Summer is busy, so it doesn’t make sense for me to collaborate with you as I have normal bookings of which I plainly keep 100%. Winter is dead, so I’d be happy to get 30% instead of nothing. If you book now for the winter I will send you your share as soon as the booking is confirmed. If you book today, I send you the money today or tomorrow.
okay,i will do it tomorrow
Very good
Hey there, are you going to book after all?
Hi Yes
can you raise the prices? or put a surcharge for the guest
I raised the price from February 1st to February 28th to €25 per day. You may go ahead and book.
Ok
Hi
Reserv 1-28
Amelie
Here I got a little puzzled. What I expected was to receive a reservation accompanied by a note from Airbnb saying that the payment has not as of yet been successfully collected, and the guest has a certain deadline to provide valid payment details before the reservation is automatically canceled, and blablabla… a note that I remember being previously attached in such cases.
Now, what I received was but a perfectly legit-looking booking, notwithstanding it coming from a dodgy, unverified account. I don’t know how this happened. It goes without saying that the possibility of a valid payment having been provided is out of the question – simply because an investment giving a return of -30% isn’t something one would go after in the first place. What I may surmise is that, for some bizarre reason, Airbnb stopped notifying hosts about uncollected payments, which isn’t quite alright in my opinion… What are they waiting for to tell you that they don’t have your money? The check-out date?
Yes, I got it, perfect! Alright, send me your bank details and I will transfer you your share tomorrow. I would do today but I’m at the beach and the connection is really poor.
Yes, I’ll throw off the data soon, tomorrow it will suit me! pleasant stay)
Hi
ILJA VOLMER
EE401010011697135228
AS SEB Pank | SWIFT-код (BIC): EEUHEE2X |
Hi there, thanks, I will make the transaction soon. Can you please also give me an address. My bank requires it.
Estonia , city Narva
Paul Kerese 13
This is what I got from them in terms of personal details. Surely they aren’t geniuses, but could they be so stupid as to carry out a scam using their real names and stuff? You never know. The main question here is how they get to open bank accounts without appropriate identification. I continued:
I was just trying to send you the money, but I’ve got some trouble logging in to my e-banking, and I can’t contact my bank for now. Could you please send me your Paypal details instead? Sorry about that.
through this site can be transferred directly to my card
Didn’t use it?
I honestly never heard of that before.
Don’t know what this is. Have never used it. Can you send me your Paypal email address instead?
ok, just a request when you transfer via paypal there are two transfer options 1. as a friend 2.payment for the service please choose 1 option
transfer to a friend
Hi, I was just going to send you the money now via Paypal, but I noticed that your Paypal account is not verified. In this case, I will need you to send me a photo of your passport for security reasons. Thanks.
are you serious? I cancel my booking because we didn’t agree so, just send me the money and that’s it
Hi friend! Well, yes, as a matter of fact, I am very serious. Sorry about that. Please don’t take it personally. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings. It’s not that I don’t trust you. But you know, one needs some security before paying money online. Do please send me a picture of your passport and I will send you the money asap. It doesn’t need to be a passport either, a driver’s license or any other identification document will do just fine. Speak soon.
And by the way, sorry if it’s a little irrelevant but I was wondering, what hair gel do you use? Your hair looks awesome.
ok i’ll throw it off for you later
Ok
How’s it going? Will you send me the picture so I send you the money?
That’s all so far. It’s been almost a week I haven’t heard from them. I will wait a little longer, and throw in the continuation in case there is any, before proceeding with getting Airbnb to cancel their reservation.
Update December 2020: Now the “geniuses” behind this scam came with this piece of persuasive magic:
Hello. (PLUS) My name is 79 Oleg. I would like 06 to rent 68 your apartment, but 94 without actual 10 living.2 That is, no one will live there, but the reservation will be. Everything will be through the site.
If you are interested in my proposal, then contact me at votcap.
I hid the number in this SMS
I hope you find)
Best wishes to you. You yourself know what the situation is in the country and in general in the whole world)
Regards, Oleg)
